After a long week of cooking and healthy eating, I do feel like I have really broadened my cooking skills, and I have found some recipes that I will certainly be eating again!! I am also very pleased I stuck close to my budget, however I did have to buy some more peppers, and borrow some pasta for today’s dish.

For my lunch today, I made roasted vegetable and goats cheese pasta bake, and it was hearty and DELICIOUS.

My ingredients were:

• 2 Peppers
• Handfull of mushrooms
• 4 Cloves of garlic
• 1 Courgette
• 2x 400g Cans chopped tomatoes
• Pesto
• Fresh rosemary
• Fresh basil
• Goats cheese
• Parmesan cheese
• Oil
• Chilli flakes
• Seasoning
• Pasta (mix of wholewheat and plain)

I was really looking forward to making this dish, and I consumed slightly too much wine last night, so I knew the carbs would be my saviour!

Firstly I started by chopping the peppers, mushrooms and courgette. They were roughly the same size, however the messy chopping made the dish look more rustic. To my veggies I also added 4 whole cloves of garlic that I lightly squished on the chopping board. Once all of this was ready in my roasting tin, I broke apart a few sprigs of fresh rosemary, poured over a lashing of oil and also sprinkled on a healthy layer of salt and pepper. At this point I also added quite a large spoon of habanero chilli flakes too, however these could be taken out if you’re not a lover of heat.

I had preheated my oven to 220 degrees, and this had got super hot by now, so I put in my roasting tin and shut the door. They stayed in the oven for around 20 minutes.

Whilst the veg was cooking I boiled my mix of pasta in a large pan on the hob. I would’ve preferred all wholewheat pasta, however I had ran out, so I borrowed some of Ellen’s big tubes as well. I did give her a bowl to say thank you!!

One fully cooked, I drained the pasta thoroughly, and covered it with cold water to prevent it from going soggy whilst the veg continued to cook.

 

 

After 20 minutes the veg was soft and brown and the garlic had split apart and was smelling amazing. Now, my roasting tin could have done with maybe being slightly bigger, however I managed to squeeze in all of the pasta- just. The pasta was added to the tin, along with both cans of tomatoes. I spooned in a big helping of green pesto, and grated over the parmesan.

With two wooden spoons I carefully mixed all of the ingredients, ensuring everything was covered evenly with the tomatoes, pesto, seasoning and chilli flakes. To finish off the dish, I grated over more parmesan, and I also added the sliced goats cheese to the top.

This then cooked for another 30 minutes. The goats cheese had crisped up, the tomatoes had bubbled and the rosemary gave the dish a really rustic smell. I could tell it was going to taste GREAT.

 

After spooning out a big ladle of pasta into two bowls, for myself and Ellen, I grated some MORE parmesan over the top, and also added fresh basil, which really complimented the tomatoes.

After my second bowl, I realised I had probably had enough, however I couldn’t help but pick off some of the extra goats cheese as it tasted soooooo good! I was really happy with how the dish turned out, and it was so so easy too. I made enough for 4, however I think it would probably feed about 5/6, with a side order of garlic bread.

As this dish didn’t contain any meat, it is one of my lowest costing meals, at around £2.20 per portion (depending on how greedy you are). I am really looking forward to eating my leftovers over the next few days.

This is a really great meal for students, and it would also be good for a family dinner time, or even if you are entertaining!

I am so happy I got given this amazing book for Christmas, and I cannot wait to try even more of the dishes soon- thanks for reading!