Vegetables and Pasta in Bechamel Sauce

This is one of our most favorite recipe and I make sure that this is on our dinner list at least once a week. It looks very cheesy, but trust me! You can make it with very little or no cheese at all, and it would still taste delicious :) And you can make it on the stove top or bake it in the oven. I have written both the recipes below.

Serves 2:

Ingredients Required:

Penne Pasta (or any pasta of your choice) - 2 servings

Onion - 1/2, sliced into thin slices

Capsicum (3 colors) - 1 cup, sliced into this slices

Garlic - 3 cloves, sliced into thin slices

Carrot - 1, sliced into thin slices

Olive oil - as needed

Spring Onions - 3, Chopped

For the White Sauce:

Butter - 2 tblspn

Milk - 1.5 cups

All purpose flour - 2 tblspn

Cheese - 1/4 cup (optional), shredded

Dried Basil/Italian Seasoning - 1 tsp

Pesto - 1 tsp (optional)

Salt - as required

Pepper - 1 tsp

How to make?

Cook the pasta as per the instruction and set aside.

For the white sauce (Bechamel Sauce)

In a pan, add the butter and allow to melt. Add in the flour and saute in the butter till that raw smell goes. Use a whisk so lumps does not form. This is the rue.

This would take 3 - 5 minutes on low - medium heat.

Slowly add in the milk and whisk continuously so no lumps are formed. Bring it to a boil.

Add the salt, pepper, basil leaves/italian seasoning.

Stir so all the ingredients are mixed well. Heat on low-medium, after few minutes the mixture would start to thicken.

Set aside.

This can be done in advance and stored in the refridgerator for later use in an air tight container. This is the basic Italian White Sauce or the Bechamel Sauce.

In another pan, take some olive oil, add in the onions and saute till translucent. Add the garlic and fry for few second. Add in all the other vegetables. Do not cook too much as the vegetables should still be crunchy.

Stove Top method:

Add in the pasta to the vegetables pan and mix well. Then slowly pour over the white sauce and gently toss so the sauce is mixed in well. Cook for about 5 - 8 minutes on medium - low heat so the sauce thickens. Top it up with grated cheese.

Serve hot!

Oven method:

Take a oven safe container, place the pasta. Then place the vegetables over it. Then slowly pour in the white sauce over the vegetables till everything is covered with the sauce. Add Cheese over it.

Broil on low for few minutes, till the cheese is melted.

Serve hot!