Ham, Mushroom and Broccoli Pasta Bake

Is your fridge packed full of left-overs from Christmas? This pasta bake can use some of them.

Sometimes I find using left-overs to make a meal can be harder than cooking the original dishes because you always end up doing the same things over and over – like curry or pie etc, etc, etc. I haven’t made pasta that much this month, so I thought that it sounded like a good option.

This bake is very versatile so you can pretty much throw any left-over that you have in to the mix. Turkey and cooked vegetables can be used in addition to the ingredients below – you’ll just need a bigger dish to bake it all in!

This would be great served with some garlic bread.

Ingredients – serves 6:

approx 300g/10 oz dried pasta shapes (I used fusilli)
1 broccoli head, chopped into small florets
1 tbsp oil, for cooking
approx 200g/7 oz leg ham, chopped
150g/5 oz button mushrooms, chopped
200g/7 oz Campbell’s Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
200ml/7 oz milk
1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
75g/2.5 oz cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon dried mixed herbs
1 cup grated cheese
approx 1/4 cup dried breadcrumbs
black pepper, to season

Method:

Heat your oven to 180C/160C fan forced/350F.
Cook the pasta in a large pan of salted, boiling water according to the pack instructions, approximately 10-11 minutes.
Add the broccoli to the pasta water for the last minute of cooking.
Drain and place the pasta and the broccoli into a large ovenproof dish.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a medium saucepan and add the ham and mushrooms. Cook over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes.
Add the soup, milk, mustard, cream cheese and herbs and stir to combine. Bring to the boil.
Carefully pour the ham mixture over the pasta and broccoli and then stir to distribute the sauce.
Spread the grated cheese over the top of the dish, then sprinkle over the breadcrumbs.
Season the crumb with a little black pepper.
Bake for 20 minutes or until the crumb is golden and the sauce bubbling.
Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes before serving.
Enjoy!