Cheesey-baked rigatoni with zucchini and mince

Serves:

Ingredients

• 500 grams beef mince
• 500 grams cooked rigatoni pasta
• 1 tsp butter for buttering the dish
• 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 small zucchini, finely sliced in rounds
• half a cup parsley
• 50g butter
• 3 tbsp flour
• 4 cups milk
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese

Method

Preheat oven to 180C. Butter a large lasagne dish 35 x 25cm and set aside.

In a large frying pan, saute onions and garlic for one minute in oil, add the mince and brown. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir parsley, pasta and zucchini through and pour into lasagne dish.

In another saucepan over a medium heat, melt the 50grams butter. Once melted, add flour to the pan and stir to make a paste.

Gradually whisk milk in adding salt and pepper to taste. Keep whisking until it begins to bubble and thicken up then remove from heat. Stir parmesan through.

Pour white sauce evenly over pasta mixture and sprinkle with mozzarella. Cook for 20-25 minutes or until golden and bubbling.

Notes

• Add a tsp of salt to the cooking water for the pasta.
• I save a lot of time chopping onions and other vegetables by using my beloved mandoline. Chopping extremely finely is so easy with this tool.
• I love to use organic butter as it flavours the white sauce so nicely.
• You can use any pasta shape similar in size to rigatoni, such a penne, spirals or shells.
• If you don‰t have time to make the white sauce from scratch, you can buy Maggi Instant Creamy White Sauce, just make sure you have at least 4 cups of sauce for this recipe.
• This recipe was created by Kristine Duran-Thiessen for Kidspot, New Zealand‰s best recipe finder.

Serving Suggestions

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