Almost lasagna, but not quite. You still need to make a meat sauce, but with the spaghetti mix at the bottom and the cheese sauce on top, it’s quite luscious. Gluten free pasta would work really well in it too. A great family meal……
I think this dish is really a risotto, because as I understand it the rice is a paella is cooked without stirring, which gives it a crispy bottom. Paella, risotto, I don’t think it really matters all that much, the main thing is that it’s a great rice dish full of vegetables and tasty chorizo.
Looking for an easy weekend dinner for the family? This omelette filled with with ham, onion, cheese and pasta could be it. That’s not to say that it wouldn’t make a great lunch for friends if you jazz it up with a fancy salad and bread from your local bakery.
This recipe comes out of one of my pasta cookbooks. I already make a meat lasagne and a chicken lasagne, so a seafood one has to be on the list as well. Obviously buying good quality white fish, scallops and prawns would make an excellent dish, but you could also go for the cheaper option and buy a generous amount of marinara mix. It mightn’t be quite as good, but it would certainly be a bit more affordable.
I think this would be a quite hearty meal. The polenta would be quite filling and the mushroom sauce has half a can of chickpeas in it – so not a lightweight dish. It’s gluten free and if you substitute vegetable stock for the beef stock in the sauce, it could work for vegetarians as well.
Meatballs and pasta are a great combination and this is one of those recipes you can prepare beforehand. With a cooking time of only around 40 minutes you can put in the oven when the family or friends are almost ready to eat.
You might have to go to a specialty pasta store to get these large shells, I don’t think they’re readily available at my local supermarket, but it would probably be worth the trouble. Smaller noodles would work, but the large ones look terrific and set the dish above the average pasta bake.
This is a great recipe for using up leftover pasta. A good combination of vegetables, pasta, cheese and ham. A terrific easy weekend meal.
I recently went to a paella cooking class at Pizzini Wines in the King Valley, so when I came across this Jambalaya recipe my first thought was how similar it was to paella. Apparently the main difference is in the spices. Paella uses saffron and Jambalaya, cayenne pepper. With the cost of saffron, making Jambalaya looks like a great idea.
I guess this would now be called a pasta bake, but back in the 90s it was a Pasta Pie. Either way it’s delicious.
Beb's Recipe Drawer 