Baked Pasta with Veggies,Cheese and Breadcrumbs

This is a simple baked casserole dish where I layered vegetables nad pasta in a oniony sauce and topped with cheesed panko bread crumbs and baked till the flavours seeped through everything and the top is browned.

Normally unlike other baked dishes where a dough or batter is cooked into a final dish which is bound together by the ingredients ,baking pasta is meant for the flavours to mingle unless ofcourse it is a lasagna  which belongs to the first category.Anyway my dish is simple and turned to be a perfect lunch.

Ingredients:
Penne Pasta: for 2-3 people around 3 cups
Assorted Veggies : 1.5 cups (I used broccoli,peas,corn,carrots etc)
Salt & Water : for the pasta

Butter: 1 tbsp
Onion: Finely chopped: 1/2 cup
Garlic: 1-2 cloves
Salt: as per taste
Nutmeg: 1/2 -1 tsp
Pepper: as per taste
Cream: 12 tbsp + as needed
Milk: 6-8 tbsp

Bread Crumbs: 1 cup
Cheddar: grated :3/4 cup
Parmesan: 1/4 cup
Butter: 1 tbsp melted
Salt: a pinch
Chilli Flakes: a pinch

Preparation:

Chop veggies into smaller pieces. Cook pasta in salted water and add the veggies for a few minutes into the water just before the pasta turns aldente or cooked as per taste.Drain,stir in olive oil and layer in a 9 x 13 ' glass casserole dish which is previously greased with butter.

Meanwhile,heat butter in a pan,add finely chopped onions and saute till transparent.Add in garlic chopped and saute for 1-2 minutes until the raw smell disappears.Add in little salt,pepper and nutmeg and stir in milk and cream mixed together. Cook for a few minutes until the sauce thickens.You can go for cream alone ,insted of a milk cream mix.Once the sauce is ready, pour over the top of pasta-veg layer.

Mix together bread crumbs,cheeses,salt and butter. Top the pasta-sauce layers evenly with this.Bake in a preheated oven at 350 F for 25-30 minutes until the top turns brown.You can see the sauce bubbling and mingling and the aroma from oven is cheesy!. Take out cool for a few minutes and serve warm portions.

Pasta baked is truly heartwarming and filling and comforting.You can see the sauce rising and coating even the breadcrumbs which on browning turn crunchy,Above all a simple first attempt which turned out excellent