A soothing and creamy veggie sausage pasta bake, perfect for warming up the family on a chilly autumn evening. The luxurious sauce is a simple mix of creme fraiche and grated cheddar cheese with a little grain mustard and lemon zest to give it a bit oomph.
You can make it in advance, keep it in the fridge and then bake it once you’re ready to eat. It gives four generous portions with enough to box up for someone’s packed lunch the next day.
I’ve used vegetarian sausages, but you could easily use meaty bangers – just increase the cooking time when you pan fry.
The boys love creamy pasta and launched into it with gusto for a chilly weekend lunch when everyone was feeling a bit sluggish. This dish really is a great big comforting hug of a meal. Just as you’d imagine it’s mega filling though so there were plenty of leftovers.
The flavours stand easily on their own, but obviously Arlo can’t eat anything unless it’s drowned in tomato ketchup – I was exactly the same at his age. I used to go crazy squirting sauce all over my mum’s macaroni cheese, whereas now it’s a little restrained drizzle of brown sauce. We really are a family of condiment lovers…
Creamy Veggie Sausage Pasta Bake
Serves: 4 (with leftovers)
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 40 mins
Ingredients
250g pasta
8 veggie sausages (I used Sainsbury’s frozen because they’re firm and ‘meaty’)
half a head of broccoli, but into small florets
300ml reduced fat creme fraiche
1 lemon, zest only
1 heaped teaspoon grain mustard
1 tsp dried sage
150g grated cheddar
Method
- Pre-heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/Gas 6.
- Bring a large pan of water to the boil and cook the pasta according to the packet instructions. While it’s bubbling away gently pan fry the veggie sausages until they cook through and get a bit of colour (it should take about the same amount of time as the pasta). Add the broccoli to the pasta for the final 5 minutes of cooking.
- Slice the sausages into big chunks. Drain the pasta and broccoli, retaining a little of the cooking water. Add the sausages to the pasta and broccoli. Stir in the creme fraiche, lemon zest, mustard and dried sage and most of the grated cheddar. Give it all a good stir, a few twists of black pepper and then turn it out into a baking dish.
- Scatter the top with the remaining grated cheese and then bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes until golden and bubbling.
I’m joining this recipe up with the brilliant Meat Free Mondays hosted by my buddy Jac at Tinned Tomatoes. Every week she does a fantastic round-up of 7 veggie-friendly recipes for the week ahead to help inspire your meal planning. Check it out here
Have you ever tried making this dairy free? I’d love to make it but my son is allergic to milk. Wondering what subsitutes work best?
I have to admit I’ve not tried making it dairy free Nyomi, but that’s a great question. You could make a white sauce using soya milk, flour and coconut oil and then flavour it with grain mustard. Or perhaps to save making the sauce you could perhaps try using soya-based yogurt? There are so many great dairy-free products out there now I’d have some fun experimenting to see what would work the best. As long as it’s creamy in texture then give it a try!
There are some dairy-free ‘cheese’ sauces you can buy, although I prefer making my own with vegan cheese added. Next time you’re in Newcastle visit Farplace on Clayton Street or Almonds & Raisins in the Grainger Market to see what substitutes they have 🙂
Delicious and perfect for these chilly autumn days – love the idea of creme fraice and lemon to give it a lift.
Thanks Ren… yes creme fraiche and lemon give it a lighter feel than a stodgier cheese sauce made with flour 🙂
Oh this looks gorgeous. I wish I could reach into the screen and try it
I’m sure that will be possible one day!
This looks so good! I’ve never thought of doing this with veggie sausages
The sainsbury’s ones are really good for a recipe like this Kerry as they don’t dry out 🙂
Ooooh this looks like my idea of heaven. And whaddya know, I have some creme fraiche in the fridge needing to be used 😀