Marathon Pasta

What an amazing event the London Marathon is. So many people from so many places running for so many different reasons. And the American vegetarian was one of them!!! Completing the marathon in an amazing time of 3hrs 51 mins. All of the hard training paid off, and I like to think that the huge vegetable pasta bake I cooked on Saturday also lent a helping hand. The diet has been carb heavy this week, with a variety of pasta, rice and low GI vegetable dishes. By default I have been carbo loading as well, I just now need to start training for my 10k in May to compensate for all the carbs I've been taking in. Note to self: no more pasta until we go to Rome.

With this dish you can basically add any vegetable you like. Curly kale and broccoli are my veg of choice in this dish. The kale wilts beautifully and you can get so much in. So here is my marathon pasta bake.

Ingredients

About 300 grams pasta (or enough to fill the dish you use) penne, fusilli, anything really
3/4 quarter head of broccoli
250 grams of curly kale
1 can of either chopped or plum tomatoes
1 onion
2 peppers
1 aubergine
1 courgette
Some oil
Some cheese; grated
Salt and pepper

Pre heat oven to 180 Celsius
Cook pasta to packet instruction but not to the full time, only until its before al dente. Cut the peppers into large squares, and the aubergine into discs and the courgette into chunks. Add some olive oil and season with salt and pepper and then roast them in the oven for about 20 mins, or until they're done. Then cut the broccoli and steam it. Whilst all that is happening, chop an onion, and fry it off in some oil and then add the can of tomatoes, and season with salt and pepper. Let this reduce for about 15 mins. You can add garlic here if you wish, I didn't as I didn't fancy it.

Once all the above is done; (veg roasted/steamed, pasta just cooked, tomato sauce done). Put the pasta in a big dish, and mix in the sauce, and peppers, courgette and aubergine. Then wash the kale and place in a colander and pour some boiling water over it so it wilts. Add this to dish, then add broccoli, and season well with salt and pepper. Make sure everything is mixed well together and then place in oven for 20-25 mins. After about 15 mins take out and top with cheese, before returning it to oven for another 5-10 mins.

Serve with a fresh salad.

The picture above is of the pasta bake before it went into the oven and before the cheese went on top. In our haste to carbo load, I forgot to take a picture of the finished result. But I think you get the idea.

Congratulations to all marathon runners.