It almost felt a waste to use these artichoke hearts in a simple pasta bake but the texture of them works so well in the bake I couldn't resist. Breadcrumbs on the top make a good replacement for the traditional cheese and the wine makes a more interesting flavour than boring old plain tomato.
I used a mix of black beans and kidney beans but you could use any canned bean really. And you don't even have to use artichoke! You could gently cook some sliced leek and add that, or blanche some small broccoli pieces and then chuck those in.
The pasta I used was these big fat tubes, look at em!
I like them because they fill up with all the goodies. You could try it with macaroni, or the little bow ties! You might need to keep an eye on the cooking time though, I think the smaller pastas would cook quicker than these big tubies.
You'll need:
1 red onion
1 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves
2 cans chopped tomatoes
2 cans your choice of bean
1 cup of red wine (or one of those small bottles)
enough pasta to cover the bottom of your baking dish
a handful of sliced artichoke hearts (or your choice of veg)
3-4 slices of bread
Chop the onion and add it to a pan with the oil. Fry over a medium high heat until softened. Chop and add the garlic and cook for another couple of minutes.
Add the chopped tomatoes, the wine, and the beans. Bring to a gentle simmer and leave for about 10 minutes. Taste, and if it still tastes wine-y (if it's a strong wine taste), leave to cook a little longer.
Once the wine taste has mellowed and the mix has thickened, turn off the heat.
Line your baking dish with your pasta. If you're using the tubes, lay them on their sides in order.
Pour on the mix. You might need to wiggle the pasta around a little to make sure they're filled.
Put the bread slices into a blender for a few seconds. This makes breadcrumbs! Spread the breadcrumbs over the top of the pasta and tomatoes.
Put into the oven at gas mark 4/350F/170C for about ten minutes. The breadcrumbs will have browned now but the pasta won't be cooked yet so remove from the oven and use a fork to rake the crumbs over so they're not all brown. Put back into the oven for another 7-10 minutes until they're browned again.
Stick a fork into the mix somewhere near the edge and see if the pasta's cooked (you might need to try it). If it's not cooked yet, re-rake the crumbs and give it another few minutes.
Serve as soon as the pasta's cooked.
Tomorrow I'm finally going to make the gingerpumpkin cupcakes! yum!
10 comments:
COMFORT
That looks so good, and all the stuff (mostly) that's in the pantry already! I'll have to try it :)
This looks amazing; I love those big fat pasta tubes...I must try and find some, so I can try this asap!
Oh my, this sounds so good. I love how simple the ingredients are. It looks lovely.
www.twoveganboys.wordpress.com
Lovely! I'll have to try the breadcrumbs instead of cheese idea. Now I've finished the vegan challenge the lure of cheese is strong!
Artichoke hearts are my fave.
Adding it to my list of "vegan recipes to try" :)
This is totally going on my vegan for a week menu!
They look absolutely delicious! Bookmarked!
This dish is delicious! It's one of our new favs!! :-)
This recipe is a winter favourite over here! And a post work-out, protein blaster! I made this last night and swopped the second can of beans for some TVP. I also tried to make it more springy with leeks and zucchini and white wine instead of red. The white wine was a bust but everything else (especially the TVP) was a hit!
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