Cheer up Bake with Crunchy Garlic Fingers

This fairly simple meal was devised because I was in a bad mood.  Isn't it always the way?  Food solves many problems, unless your problem is food.  That's for a different post though, perhaps not one titled "Cheer up bake".

Over the past year I pretty much took this meal apart, and re-made it again and again until it resembles what I'm going to post today.  It still cheers me up, not just to cook it, but to eat it too.  I love dunking stuff in other stuff, I have a side with most of my meals.

It's fairly simple, doesn't take long to make & is "throw together" recipe.  Something that requires next to no effort & you can tailor to your own likes/dislikes....

There's not much else of a story about it really, It was make this or eat some ice cream.  It reminds me (slightly) of a pasta dish I used to order at an Italian resturant we use to frequent, don't ask me to write what it is, I'll only embarrass myself with my appalling spelling of Italian names.

Anyway, here it is; This bake serves two people.

2 x small casserole dishes
80g Dried Penne Pasta (Whole wheat goes best)
220g of Mozzarella

2 medium white onions, cut finely into cubes
1 large red onion, cut finely into cubes
1/2 courgette sliced
200g Butternut squash, chopped into small cubes
4 closed cup mushrooms, sliced
1 teaspoons of honey

1 teaspoon of Worcester sauce.

1 teaspoon of smoke paprika.

4 tablespoons of tomato puree
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or crushed
1 green pepper chopped into small cubes
1 - 2 Wholemeal pitta bread(s)
Fry light spray
1 teaspoon of cracked peppercorns
1/2 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon of sea salt

2 teaspoons polenta

parsley & thyme optional.

First off, do all your boring prep, including preheating your oven to about gas mark 6 & start cooking your pasta to the packets instructions.

In a frying pan (or wok, whatever your preference) sprayed with a few sprays of fry light, throw the Onions, Butternut squash, Pepper, mushrooms, Courgette & 2 cloves of garlic in and start to cook on a medium heat. Add the honey, Worcester sauce and a pinch of salt.

Spilt the pitta bread(s), rub down with a little bit of olive oil, add the sea salt & crushed garlic cloves.  Add the cracked peppercorns, making sure it's evenly spaced. Cut into fingers.  Sprinkling a little bit of parsley & thyme on top goes well too.

Squeeze the 4 tablespoons of tomato puree into the frying pan of cooking vegetables mix together until it's covered evenly. After about 5 minutes, take the cooked pasta, about 160g of the mozzarella and mix it in before dividing evenly between the two dishes.

Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella & the polenta over the top and pop the dishes, and the fingers into the oven for 10-12 minutes.

Serve and Cheer up!