This recipe is inspired by one I found in a recipe book first published in 1994 – The Vegetarian Pasta Book. I’ve been making, and adapting, lots of recipes from it. Amazingly, it’s still in print, and, as a bonus, extremely cheap too!
Cabbage, sultana and nut pasta bake
This has a total of 12 portions of fruit and veg, so that’s 3 portions each in one go! Plus almost a third of your daily dietary fibre needs (30g each per day), and coming up to half your protein requirements (56g for an average sedentary man)
What you need to make this pasta bake
- 125 g macaroni dried
- 1 tin baked beans value brand, drained and rinsed
- 2 tblsp butter
- 1 tblsp oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic
- 450 g cabbage
- 75g sultanas
- 50 g cashews salted
- 120 g cheddar grated
How to make Cabbage, sultana and nut pasta bake
- Cook the macaroni in salted water until tender.
- Drain well and stir through one tblsp of oil to stop it clumping into one solid lump.
- Put the butter and 1 tblsp of the oil in a pan and saute the onion until tender
- Add the garlic, cabbage and sultanas
- Cover and cook gently until the cabbage is cooked through.
- If it’s starting to look dry, add a splash of water. Season with salt and pepper.
- Mix the vegetables, macaroni, nuts and drained, rinsed beans together
- Top with the grated cheese. Bake at 180c for about 20 minutes until golden
What is the cabbage, sultana and nut pasta bake like?
This pasta bake is delicious! Very filling, packed full of vegetables and likely to be enjoyed by the kids as well. Great cold too the next day in lunchboxes.
This amount makes 4 generous portions, so if you need less, or there are fewer of you, portion it up and stack it in the fridge or freezer.
Variations
- Use white cabbage, green savoy, a dark red one, or a mixture. Red cabbage counts as a purple portion, packed full of anthocyanins and the hardest colour one to get in our daily fruit and veg.
- Add a handful of mushrooms or a big pinch of dried porcini.
- Include a mugful of cooked green or brown lentils for even more protein.
- Add some shreds of chicken, beef, pork, crispy bacon, pepperoni, prawns, tofu, paneer or quorn.
- Change the nuts to whatever you have in.
- Change the flavour by adding 2 tblsps of curry paste or use a curry powder.
- Make it Thai by adding a red, green or yellow Thai paste.
- Turn it Chinese by using fish sauce and miso, and maybe some water chestnuts.
- Add some tomato puree, and / or some chopped sundried tomatoes.
- Add a sauce. A spicy tomato one.
- Would be good with a creamy mushroom sauce, a tin of mushroom soup would work well, or cream of chicken.
- Or make up a parsley or cheese sauce.
- Or roast some veg – say, onion and butternut squash with some garlic, season it and whizz to a smooth sauce.
- Cook and whizz some green peas, and maybe some mint.
- A big blob of value soft cheese stirred through would be good too.
Slimming World
A total of 72.5 Syns, 18 Syns per serving.
11 Syns for the butter, 12 Syns for the oil, 10.5 Syns for the sultanas, 15 Syns for the cashews, 24 Syns for the cheese.
Use the cheese as a Healthy Extra A to reduce the Syns to 12 Syns per serving
In addition, use Frylight instead of the butter and oil to reduce the Syns to 6 per serving
Ingredients
- 125 g macaroni dried, 65p/500g, 16p
- 1 tin baked beans value brand, drained and rinsed, 23p
- 2 tblsp butter £1.49/250g, 18p
- 1 tblsp oil £1.09/litre, 2p
- 1 onion chopped, 5p
- 2 cloves garlic 5p
- 450 g cabbage 65p/kg, 29p
- 75 g sultanas £1/500g, 15p
- 50 g cashews salted, 75p/125g, 30p
- 120 g cheddar grated, £3.69/825g, 54p
Instructions
- Cook the macaroni in salted water until tender.
- Drain well and stir through one tblsp of oil to stop it clumping into one solid lump.
- Put the butter and 1 tblsp of the oil in a pan and saute the onion until tender
- Add the garlic, cabbage and sultanas
- Cover and cook gently until the cabbage is cooked through.
- If it’s starting to look dry, add a splash of water. Season with salt and pepper.
- Mix the vegetables, macaroni, nuts and drained, rinsed beans together
- Top with the grated cheese. Bake at 180c for about 20 minutes until golden
Equipment Needed
Notes
Got a great recipe? How about submitting it to appear on Thrifty Lesley!
Jo – no, the nuts go in with the macaroni and cabbage mix. I checked the recipe, and I hadn’t mentioned them, so I’ve added that in now. Thanks for the heads up 🙂
I haven’t tried it, but they would probably work well mixed in with the cheese too!
I presume the salted cashews go on top with the cheese. Just checking in case they burn…
We love it Kayleigh
Ooh this sounds like a different but wonderful dish xx
So glad you liked it, it’s become one of our favourites
Absolutely wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, along with all your others.
I made this for dinner and it was a huge hit. Even my incredibly picky husband gobbled it down!
No, it doesn’t taste of cabbage does it, good for veggie phobes and children who won’t eat veg.
Very brave of you to try it if you don’t like cabbage!
Personally I am
Not a fan of cabbage, but gave this a go.
Would never know there was cabbage in it!!
Made a change from normal pasta bake.
Tends to fall to bits, but not a problem.
Would make again for sure.
It is, it’s really good !
I’m going to make this next week, sounds delicious!