Serves 4 people
1H 5 Min
Total cost- £3.43 (85p per serving)
Total cost with chicken- £5.23 (£1.30 per serving)
Ingredients
- 350g dried pasta
- Splash of oil
- 1 cup (115g) frozen diced onions
- 2 teaspoons frozen chopped garlic
- 300g sliced chestnut mushrooms
- 2 chicken breasts cut into small chunks (optional)
- 50g butter
- 50g plain flour
- 500ml milk
- 100g cream cheese
- 1 cup (140g) pre grated cheddar
- Salt and pepper
Preparation
- First of all, you want to get your pasta cooking. Add your dried pasta to a saucepan and cover with boiling water. Cook for 6 minutes and then drain and set aside. The pasta will not be cooked through at this stage, this means when you cook after defrosting it won’t be mushy.
- To a large deep sided frying pan add a splash of oil and then place on the heat. Add your diced onions, frozen garlic, sliced mushrooms and optional chicken chunks. Cook until the mushrooms have cooked down and released all of their liquid and the optional chicken is cooked through, this will take approx. 8-10 minutes. Once cooked, tip everything out into a bowl and set aside while you make the sauce.
- To the frying pan now add the butter and leave to melt. Then stir in the flour and gradually start adding half the milk, whisking really well the whole time. Once you have added in half of the milk and the sauce has begun to thicken, add the rest of the milk stirring well until you have a nice lump free thick sauce. Cook for 2 minutes and season well with salt and pepper.
- Once the sauce is lump free add in the cream cheese, grated cheese and tip in the bowl of cooked mushrooms etc. Stir until the cheese has melted.
- Remove from the heat, stir in the cooked pasta and pour into your Pyrex® Cook & Heat dish.
- Leave to cool.
Ready to Freeze
Place the lid on the Pyrex® dish and freeze.
Ready to Reheat
Remove from the freezer.
To reheat in the oven- remove the lid and then wrap the frozen dish in some tin foil. Place the frozen dish in the oven at 180°C for 50 minutes. Remove from the oven, mix carefully, check it is piping hot before serving up.
To reheat in the microwave- place the frozen dish in the microwave and slide the lid steam vents open. Place in the microwave for 8 minutes on high and then stir carefully. Place back in the microwave for another 5-6 minutes until piping hot and completely defrosted.
(cook times may vary depending on the strength of your microwave, cook until piping hot)
Serving suggestions- a big green salad and garlic bread
