To use up more pantry/fridge/freezer bits and pieces, Jac decided to make a pasta bake. She got the idea from a pasta bake that our friend SG made recently. Jac seasoned a few chicken thighs with salt and pepper, panfried them and then sliced them up. She also cooked up a pot of pasta spirals. She combined the chicken and pasta with sliced raw mushrooms and frozen peas (still frozen, straight out of the packet) in a baking dish. She stirred through a tomato and vegetable pasta sauce that she’d made sometime ago (when SG made her pasta bake, she used a tin of tomatoes for the sauce). She baked the lot for around 40 minutes or so, topped with soya cheese. I don’t know when she bought soya cheese – I drink soy milk in my tea and don’t mind it at all (though I do find certain brands completely unpalatable), but I can’t stand soya cheese – it seemed so bland and rubbery. I ate the soya cheese that topped my first round of pasta bake, but when I grabbed my second round I ensured it was as cheeseless as possible.

I hope Jac makes this dish again, but with normal cheese! The leftovers were great. You know what would be really nice in the pasta bake too? Some lardons of bacon. Mmmmmmmm.