Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Pasta Cooked in White Sauce with Spinach and Sausages


My daughter has fallen in love with pasta. Yes, pasta is what tops her list of current favourites. She is just loving the idea of simply having mac and cheese and pasta in almost any form is welcome these days. I had to come up with a recipe that would suit her tastebuds and also ensure the health aspect, so it was spinach and sausages for me. Pasta recipes sure are fun to experiment with and with an ardent pasta fan experimenting becomes a fun activity too. White sauce pasta recipes are her favourite with not so much an inclination shown towards the red sauce based pasta recipes and so white sauce it is going to be.

Ingredients:
Pasta – 200 gms
Spinach – 2 cups(blanched and finely chopped)
Sausages – 200 to 300 gms(lightly fried and cut into bite sized pieces)
Onion - 1 finely chopped
Olive oil - 1 tbsp(you can use normal cooking oil if you do not have olive oil)
Salt - to taste
Grated cheese – ½ cup (for the topping)

For the white sauce:
All purpose flour (Maida)- 2 tbsp
Butter - 2 tbsp
Milk – 1 to 1.5 cups
Cream - 2 to 3 tbsp(optional)
Garlic - 2 (finely chopped)
Paprika - 1/4 tsp(you can increase it in case you like your pasta spicy)
Pepper powder - 1/4 to 1/2 tsp
Dry Basil – ¼ tsp

Method for pasta recipe:
1-Take a deep dish that can immerse the pasta completely. Fill with water, add some salt and the pasta and cook. When done, drain the water and keep under cold running water for about 30-40 seconds. Keep aside.
2-In a pan, add olive oil. Add the finely chopped onion and fry till it turns soft. Add the finely chopped spinach and let cook for 3-4 minutes. Now add the sausages and cook for a minute or two. Keep aside.
3-Take a pan and add the butter to make the white sauce. Let the butter melt. Now add the chopped garlic and fry till the aroma comes. Add the all purpose flour (maida) and fry for a minute. Add the milk and mix well, continuously stirring to avoid any lumps and have a smooth white sauce. At this stage I like to add the pepper powder, paprika and basil. Mix well. Add in the spinach and sausage mixture and mix well. Add salt to taste and mix. Take off from the gas stove and add the whipping cream. Mix well.
4-Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease an oven proof dish and put in the boiled pasta, next comes the white sauce, spinach and sausage mixture. Top it with grated cheese. Bake it for approximately 15 minutes till the cheese melts completely and you have a nice cheesy layer on top. Serve hot (make sure to take out right from the bottom to get all the three layers).

21 comments:

Vimitha Durai said...

Cheesy is my style.. Yum...
Thanks for dropping by dear... Happy to follow u...

Ila said...

looks awesome and delicious :)

Malar Gandhi said...

Love anything cheesy...addition of spinach sounds interesting. Perfect dinner.

Sarah Naveen said...

Sounds Great and looks so yummy!!

Prathima Rao said...

Hey Vandana..Thx for dropping by coz now i got to know of ur lovely blog :) The pasta looks cheesy & droolworthy & love it!!Glad to be following u...cya...
Prathima Rao
Prats Corner

Unknown said...

Looks very yummy and drooworthy:)

Sravs said...

Thanks for visiting my blog and for ur sweet comments !!Happy to follow u!! The pasta looks so yum !!

Candace said...

My husband could literally eat pasta for every meal. Yours looks awesome. I love sausage and spinach so much so I'm sure I would love this dish. Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and leaving your sweet comment about the spring rolls. I hope you get a chance to try them again and that you have better success. They are time consuming; but, worth the effort, I think!

aipi said...

Loved the cheesy gooey crust- a great looking pasta dish! I don't know what it is with these kids and pasta (my daughter is a great pasta lover as yours) but I am happy as long as we can get some food into them and sneak in some veggies while we are at it!
US Masala

Sonia said...

Hi Vandana, This is looking absolutely delightful. Very nicely made and presented. I wud love to give it a shot on the coming weekend... Have a great day !

Cham said...

Cheesy casserole dish!
Wish you and your family a wonderful New Year!

Swathi said...

Pasta looks awesome with spinach and sausages, very cheesy love it.

Anonymous said...

The recipe definitely sounds gorgeous ! :)
www.sunshineandsmile.com

Namitha said...

Just like your daughter, my kids also love pasta :-) and this looks truly tempting

Sanyukta Gour(Bayes) said...

Following u dear...u hv a wonderful space..visit mine as time permits...
Pasta looks super yummy n tempting...
Sanyukta
http://creativesanyukta.blogspot.com/

Mehjabeen Arif said...

cheesy cheesy.. love it.. picture are just perfect..

Mehjabeen Arif said...

new to ur space n happy to follow u for more wonderful creations..
do visit me when u get time ..
http://comeletseat.blogspot.com

Shobha said...

Delicious looking pasta Vandana.
Plz collect FOOD MAZAA AWARD from my blog.
Thanks.

the Junkie book said...

hi

thnx for stopping by. i'm jus so caught up with a writing project tht i did only the quickest skinny dip in your blog.

will be back after a week. academia-research.com is looking for writers.

Zainab said...

nice work......love anything that has something to do with cheese!

Lavanya Selvaraj said...

Looks yummm....

First time here. You have wonderful space. Following you.

Take a look at my space when you get a chance.

http://recipecongeries.blogspot.com