A full flavoured creamy leek and mushroom pasta bake with layers of penne pasta coated in a crème fraiche mushroom and leek sauce flavoured with garlic & herbs and thick layers of creamy mozzarella cheese and parmesan. Serve this delicious vegetarian bake for your evening meal with a fresh green salad and some cherry tomatoes.
Pasta
Sauce
Salad
oven-baked pasta is particularly delicious and we wanted to create a recipe which was creamy but not too heavy or rich, so we decided to create our sauce with crème fraiche. Pasta bake is not the same without cheese, especially with a creamy based sauce we love the mixture of parmesan and mozzarella in aubergine parmigiana, so we decided to use this as our cheese layer. Finally, no leek and mushroom bake is complete without a touch of herbs and for this recipe we chose parsley.
Cook the pasta till al dente and then rinse and set aside, while the pasta is cooking fry the garlic, onions and leeks till soft. Add the sliced mushrooms and cook till caramelised. add the crème fraiche, chilli and parsley. Layer the pasta, mushroom sauce and cheese, finish with a layer of cheese and bake in the oven
This simple vegetarian pasta bake makes the perfect Spring, Autumn or Winter dinner idea because it's packed with carbs and creaminess. In Spring and Autumn, we like to serve it with a simple garden fresh salad of mixed leaves cucumber and cherry tomatoes. For the winter why not serve it with garlic bread or fresh wholemeal crusty rolls?
What makes our mushroom pasta bake the best
The combination of mushrooms and leeks can't be beaten especially with a creamy sauce, but the star ingredient for this mushroom pasta bake has to be the addition of chilli which lifts the earthy mushroom flavour and cuts through the creaminess of the dish beautifully.
Chestnut Mushroom Cannelloni with Cheese Sauce
