I am the odd man out in my family. I don’t have a sweet tooth like other family members, and I don’t like summer either. I do love the fact that summer has more daylight, but I am a winter person. I enjoy the Margazhi months in India and every year during Margazhi I used to do the big rangolis and color them too. I have never missed a single year till my high school. Once I started my hostel life things did change but still, I love those morning bhajans and Carnatic music. I did learn the entire Tirupaavai, and now I remember only first 10. Sighhhh.
After coming to the US I fell in love with the winters in California. (Note that word Calif. I cannot survive in east coast man). The malls and streets are decorated for the holiday season. I love the smell of apple cider, cinnamon, sage and thyme and of course the shopping spree; I can keep adding to this list. Coming to Thanksgiving, according to Wiki – Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated in Canada and the United States as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and the preceding year. We have Thanksgiving meal at our workplaces, and as we have quite a number of vegetarians, there will always be vegetarian options. All the recipes that I am going to post this week and next week are inspired by those meals. I got the base recipes are from my friends and colleagues, and I modified it according to our taste and made it turkey free. Before starting the Thanksgiving series, I would like to thank all my friends and colleagues and also all the readers for your support. Hope you enjoy this series. Here is the pasta casserole recipe, Ingredients:
Tricolor Rotini – 2 cups Water for cooking the pasta. Veggies of your choice. This is what I used Zucchini – 1 Colored Bell Peppers – ½ cup roughly chopped (We love bell peppers, and you can find them in all my pasta recipes) Mushrooms – 4-5 roughly chopped Shallots – 3 to 4 roughly chopped Fresh Basil Leaves – 10 roughly chopped Tomato – 1 roughly chopped Olives for decoration
Heavy Cream / Milk – ½ cup Cheddar Cheese (cheese of your choice) – ½ cup Salt – ½ tsp + ½ tsp Garlic Infused Olive Oil – 1 tbsp. Oil – ½ tsp for cooking pasta + ½ tsp for greasing the casserole dish. Ground Pepper – 1 tsp
Steps:
Cook the pasta aldente according to the package directions.
I added the half tsp of salt and oil in the water. While the pasta is getting cooked, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Chop the veggies and place them in cookie tray covered with aluminum foil or cookie sheet.
Add the 1 tbsp. Oil, salt, and pepper. Mix them well.
Bake them for 15 minutes. (As we are going to bake again, even if the veggies are half done its ok.)
Now the pasta and roasted veggies are ready. We need to arrange and bake again with cheese. Grease the casserole dish or bread pan and start layering the pasta and veggies.
I did one pasta layer and one veggie layer and continued. Before adding the cheese, add the heavy cream or milk. This ensures the pasta retains the moisture.
Now add the cheese and bake it again for 25 minutes at 350degree F.
Ooyi gooyi bubbly pasta casserole is ready – a perfect main dish for Thanksgiving.
📖 Recipe
