Ingredients
4 small carrots, cut lengthways, and sliced finely
1 onion, chopped finely
1-2 leeks, cut lengthways and sliced finely
2 cloves of garlic
150g (5 oz) frozen peas
450g (1 lb) chestnut and button mushrooms
3 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon oil, of your choice
1 teaspoons thyme, freshly chopped
2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt
200g (9oz) pasta e.g. fusilli
For the bechamel sauce:
700ml (just under 1 1/4 pints) of sweetened soya milk
3 tablespoons sunflower spread
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Instructions
Cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling salted water until al dente.
Drain and immediately refresh under cold water, then drain well and toss with a little oil to prevent from sticking.
Clean the mushrooms and quarter them or slice them thickly.
Chop the garlic finely and add it with the onions, leeks and carrots to a sauteuse pan with 1 tablespoon of oil. Fry at a medium heat until soft. Add the peas and mushrooms keep simmering at medium heat until the mushrooms are softened. Add the thyme, salt and pepper and turn heat to low.
In a non-stick saucepan prepare the béchamel sauce. Add sunflower spread to the pot, let it melt, add the flour and stir vigorously until it all the sunflower spread is absorbed, and it is like a ball. Keep adding the soya milk a couple of tablespoons at a time while stirring, ensuring that each time the milk is absorbed into the mixture. Initially, the milk will be absorbed in to make a dough ball, and then as you continue to add the milk, it is absorbed into what becomes a paste, and then as you add the milk, it becomes absorbed into a thick sauce. Use a wooden spoon to stir in the milk. I find the best kind is a flat wooden spoon which has vertical slits in the flat part of the spoon.
Add the salt, pepper and nutmeg. Make sure that the sauce is bordering on too salty as the earthiness of the vegetables will counterbalance this when you mix them all together.
Mix the pasta with the vegetables and mushrooms.
Make sure that you either have one large oven baking dish ready for the mixture or several smaller ones.
When you have mixed everything together, transfer the mixture into forms and add the breadcrumbs on top. If you do not have breadcrumbs at hand, blitz a bit of bread in a food processor.
Cook in the oven on 200c (180C Fan) or Gas Mark 6
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