Baked White Sauce Pasta

White sauce pasta is my favorite dish, no matter how many times I make it, I never get bored. This Italian delicacy have very subtle flavors, goodness of veggies, creaminess, cheesiness and what not. In this version you will learn both baked and normal white sauce pasta. White sauce is prepared with butter, refined flour and milk flavored with aromatic herbs and very mild seasoning. In this pasta, exotic veggies go very well, but if you do not have then you can all add veggies like carrots, onions, sweet corn, and capsicum/bell pepper etc. You may even add veggies like cauliflower, cabbage if you like.

The veggies that work best are sweet corns, mushrooms, zucchini, bell peppers, broccoli and onions. But in the end it’s your choice, you can completely omit vegetables if you want. Pasta comes in different shapes, so you can use whichever you like or have. I am using classic penne pasta. Instead of mixed italian seasoning, you can use dried oregano, parsley and basil also. You can also add ½ cup of white wine in the sauce to make it more flavorful. I am in love with this pasta and I am sure you will love it too. Its yummilicious. You may also like to try Baked Vegetable.

Recipe type: Main course
Cuisine: Italian
Cooking time: 30-40 min
Serves: 3-4 people

Ingredients

For boiling pasta
3 cups          Penne pasta
12cups       Water
2tsp               Oil
1tsp               Salt
For the white sauce:
2tsp              Butter or olive oil or any refined vegetable oil
2tsp              Refined flour (Maida)
4 cups        Milk
1/2 tsp       Black pepper/White pepper powder
1/2tsp        Salt
1/2tsp        Sugar
1tsp             Cheese spread
1/2tsp        Italian seasoning (mixed herbs)
2 cloves    Garlic (grated)
2 pinch      Nutmeg (jayafal) powder a pinch
1/4tsp         Mustard powder
1/4tsp        Chilly flakes (optional)

For Pasta preparation
1 cup         Mixed veggies
1tsp            Olive oil/Refined oil
½ cup        Onions
1/2tsp       White/Black pepper
1/2tsp        Salt
1/2cup      Fresh cream
1tsp             Mozzarella cheese

To bake
½ cup         Mozzarella cheese
1/4tsp        Mixed herbs Italian seasoning

To garnish
1tsp            Mint leaves/ parsley/Basil

Method (step by step baked white sauce pasta recipe):

1. Prepare all the ingredients first.

2. Take a deep pan (bhagoni), put lots of water in it (fill almost 3/4^th of the vessel). Let the water come to a rolling boil. Put salt, oil and pasta to it and reduce the flame. Stir it once every minute so that pasta does not get stick to the bottom. It will take 10min. When pasta becomes soft, strain it through a sieve (chalni) carefully.

3. To prepare the white sauce, put butter and garlic into a pan and roast it for a minute. Add refined flour (maida) and again roast for a minute. (you can skip garlic if you don’t want).

4. Add milk with one hand and stir with the other. Keep stirring till it comes to a boil.

5. Now add salt, pepper, mustard powder, mixed herbs, sugar, cheese spread, nutmeg powder (grated nutmeg) and chilly flakes to the white sauce and mix well. Switch off the gas and take out the sauce in a bowl.

6. Take a pan, put olive oil/refined oil in it, add onions and saute for a minute on high flame.

7. Add all veggies except mushrooms and sauté for 1 minute, now add mushrooms and saute for 2 more minutes (Veggies should remain little crunchy). Add salt and pepper in it and mix well.

8. Put  boiled pasta in it, mix well and add prepared white sauce, fresh cream and mozzarella to it. Mix it well. It is ready to be served as White sauce penne pasta if you do not want to bake it. Sprinkle processed cheese/parmesan cheese and garnish with herbs of your choice.

9. Meanwhile, preheat your oven at 180 degrees. Pour pasta into a baking dish. Sprinkle lots of mozzarella on it and Italian seasoning.

10. Bake it on convection mode (middle rack) for 15minutes at 200 degrees. If you are using OTG then at 150 degrees for 15 min on middle rack. (cheese should turn little brown)

11. It is ready. Serve with garlic bread. Garnish with parsley or coriander leaves.

Notes:

1. U can also add ½ tsp soya sauce to it for little tanginess.
2. U can make it with one vegetable also and u can completely avoid veggies.
3. If u want to reduce calories do not add cheese and fresh cream and reduce Maida (or use Atta) to half.
4. U can use whichever pasta shape u like and even colored pastas.
5. We can also add dried basil, oregano but for me Italian mixed seasoning works best.

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