Asparagus And Three-Cheese Pasta Bake
With asparagus in season, we got ahead of the green curve and came up with this cheesy delight with an asparagus twist. Ingredients
800 ml full cream milk
3 Tbs flour
3 Tbs butter
60 ml extra milk (for the roux)
1 bay leaf
250 ml grated Cheddar cheese
60 g blue cheese, crumbled
40 g grated Grana Padano
Extra grated Grana Padano for the top, as much as you like
200 g green asparagus spears (more if you prefer)
Salt and pepper to taste.
Pasta of your choice x 250 g (when uncooked) (any small pasta such as macaroni, penne, rigatoni or farfalle)
Method
Cook pasta in briskly boiling water until al dente. Drain. Preheat oven to 200°. Wash and trim asparagus spears, pat dry.
Make a basic béchamel: Bring 800 ml milk (and 1 bay leaf) to just shy of boiling point. Turn off the heat. Remove bay leaf. In another pot, melt butter and stir in flour. Add hot milk a little at a time, stirring, until the milk is used up and simmer, stirring, on a low heat for about 15 minutes for it to thicken. Season with salt and pepper. Add the grated Cheddar and stir until it melts, then add the blue cheese and Grana Padano.
Grease a deep oven dish. Pour in the drained pasta and two thirds of the cheese sauce. Make sure the pasta is all coated with the cheese sauce. Layer asparagus spears over the top with the top ends pointing outwards. Spoon the remaining cheese sauce over the spears but leave the top ends uncovered. Sprinkle more Grana Padano over the cheese sauce.
Bake for 40 minutes or until the cheesy top has turned golden.