Pasta
bake is a quick dish that I make to use up leftovers in the fridge. I
use whole wheat pasta which takes a little longer to cook than white
pasta so I find it best to boil it before baking. I then add a tin of
tomatoes and a fried onion along anything else that has been
lurking the vegetable drawer of the fridge for a little too long and
needs using up.
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| Leftover pasta bake |
This
week I had some carrots and the last bits of some cheese, one was a
spicy Mexican cheddar which I diced into little cubes and spread
throughout the dish and the other was a mature Canadian white that I
mixed with crushed crisps for a crispy topping. With a tomato pasta
base and cheesey crisp topping you can throw any leftovers into this
bake. As a child I always remember being amazed when we had crisps
with pasta, crisps are for picnics and lunch boxes not for dinner.
But they really finish off the leftover pasta bake, think of them as
crunchy croûton.
 |
| Pasta bake with crushed crisps and melted cheese |
The
crisps that I used to make the crispy topping were the new MightlyLights from Walkers. They aren't as thick as their baked crisps but
they are ridged and have a good crunch. I used the lightly salted
ones in this dish and didn't add any salt to the pasta. The crisps
aren't overly salty but they had enough of it to be the only
component in the dish. I rarely sit down to a bag of crisps as I
usually gravitate to sweeter options and these actually do have a
sweetness about them, I would pick up a bag again just for this pasta
bake because they really do liven up the leftovers.
I put
an extra bag of crisps in my handbag in case I'm in need of a quick
snack but I haven't eaten them yet. Trevor has been enjoying the
other flavours which are cheese and onion and roast chicken. I'm not
so keen on the flavourings of these. They both taste quite oniony.
The roast chicken ones are suitable for vegetarians too, I'll never
understand that, how can it be chicken flavour with no chicken in it?
The chicken flavour comes from a blend of seasoning as these crisps
have no artificial flavours or preservatives.
I
mentioned that the Walkers Mighty Lights aren't as thick as the
Walkers baked crisps and that's because they are a lighter
alternative, they are made with potatoes and have 30% less saturated
fat then regular crisps. These healthy elements are designed to make
the crisps ideal for lunch boxes. In a nod to the children there is a
crisp with a drawn on face on the front of the pack. If you are back
on lunch box making duty this month I can see that these would be an
easy filler but they aren't very inspiring.
*Sponsored post. Walkers provided their crisps and payment for this review. All opinions are my own.