What is a Courgette?
Courgette is a different name for zucchini, which is green summer squash. It almost looks like a cucumber but certainly doesn’t taste like one. Zucchini are much tastier than cucumber and usually don’t contain seeds when you cut into them.
The zucchini plant is native to Northern Italy, and it is common in many Italian recipes. This versatile vegetable is great for all seasons, but you will most often find that it tastes best from June to August. Today we are sharing our favorite variations of courgette pasta bake dishes. Enjoy!
1. Courgette Pasta Bake
This recipe uses asparagus, zucchini, and lasagna noodles, making it a healthy alternative to traditional lasagna. It takes about an hour from start to finish, but we promise you will find great results in the end. You will sauté the asparagus and zucchini to add an excellent depth of flavor to the dish. The recipe also calls for a white sauce, which is easy to make from scratch.
Combine the white sauce with seasoned ricotta cheese to create the cheese layer of your courgette lasagna. Use a greased 9” X 1”3 pan and bake it at 375°F for about 18 minutes. The author suggests adding minced garlic to the white sauce if you want added flavor. Another tip they shared is to cover your dish with aluminum foil if you notice the zucchini on top getting too browned while it is baking.
Get the full recipe and directions here.
2. Rosemary Conley’s Courgette Pasta Bake
If you’re looking for a kid-friendly recipe, then you’ve come to the right place. As a bonus, you will find that it is also vegetarian-friendly and uses less expensive ingredients.
You will dry fry the zucchini, onions, and garlic to eliminate some of the moisture content in those vegetables. Set your stove on high heat, use a dry, heavy-bottomed skillet, and toss the vegetables around for a few minutes to accomplish the dry fry technique.
Don’t let the tomato passata ingredient throw you off; it is essentially an uncooked tomato puree. You can find several tomato passata brands at most stores that sell groceries, even at Walmart in the United States.
It also calls for fromage frais, which has a similar consistency to cream cheese but has less fat content. You can use any kind of pasta you want; the author doesn’t specify a certain type of noodle. Shells are a good choice since they can better hold some of the sauce and cheese than other noodles.
Get the full recipe and directions from GoodToKnow.
3. Creamy Courgette Lasagna
This dish will serve four people, but you can double the recipe if you need to feed more people in one sitting. It is a great dish to make if you want to save on time since it only takes 30 minutes to make from start to finish.
Usually, many pasta bakes don’t use cheddar cheese, but this one does. This recipe also calls for ricotta cheese, which brings a creamy texture to the dish. The author says to cook nine lasagna sheets in a pot of boiling water for 5 minutes. It will cook through the rest of the way once you go to bake it, but be sure to drain the pasta and drizzle them with olive oil to prevent them from sticking to each other.
Get the full recipe and directions from BBC.
4. Sausage and Courgette Pasta Bake
Who doesn’t love sausage and cheese? For this recipe, you will remove the casing and form the sausage into little nuggets. Cook them in a frying pan for about 6 minutes until they are golden brown. The author says to cook some penne pasta in boiling water for 8 minutes for this dish.
Once everything is combined, you will top it off with grated cheddar cheese, a drizzle of olive oil, and breadcrumbs, and bake it for 20 minutes in a 400°F oven. This courgette pasta bake is a scrumptious meal that is sure to satisfy you and your guests. You can freeze this for up to three months if you want to prepare this dish in advance. Use a freezer-safe pan and thaw it before you bake it.
Get the full recipe and directions from Tesco.
5. Roasted Aubergine, Courgette, and Macaroni Bake
You may be saying, what is aubergine? It is the same as eggplant, and it goes well with the zucchini in this dish. You will roast the eggplant and zucchini for 10 minutes in the oven. During that time, bring a large pot of water to boil and cook your macaroni noodles for 10 minutes.
The author recommends using Boursin cheese, which cuts out having to add garlic or herbs to your dish. This macaroni bake is a perfect dish for a busy weeknight because you only use one 9” X 13” baking pan to cook everything in (aside from boiling the noodles).
Get the full recipe and directions from The Happy Foodie.
6. Courgette and Tomato Pesto Pasta Bake
The pasta you’ll use in this dish is called conchiglie, which is commonly known as shells. We love how they combine the flavors of a traditional tomato sauce with a fresh pesto in this courgette pasta bake. Instead of cutting the zucchini into slices, you will be peeling it into thin ribbons for this recipe.
One of the ingredients you will be using is crème fraîche, a type of sour cream. If you can’t find it at your grocery store, it is easy to make a batch yourself. Just combine one cup of whipping cream with two tablespoons of buttermilk and let it sit at room temperature for about 8 hours until it becomes thick. After stirring it, store it in a fridge for up to 10 days. This pasta bake is a unique vegetarian-friendly recipe that looks as good as it tastes.
Get the full recipe and directions from Good Housekeeping.
7. Cheesy Mushroom and Zucchini Pesto Pasta Bake
Check out this cheesy pasta bake! The author says that this dish may become your new favorite comfort food. It has great flavor and color to it and is one of those dinners you can’t stop eating. Be sure to boil your pasta for 4 minutes less than usual since it will continue to cook in the oven.
The author recommends using something like farfalle (bowtie) pasta for this recipe and advises you to butter your baking dish before pouring in all of the ingredients. To get a nice crust on top, you will need to sprinkle a liberal amount of Parmigiano cheese and bake it at 390°F for about 20 minutes.
Get the full recipe and directions from Cooking my Dreams.
Hope you enjoyed our list of favorite courgette / zucchini pasta bakes. While you could just follow some of the recipes, keep in mind that pasta bakes are very versatile and you can throw any extra ingredients you might have on hand. Have fun and let us know what you used in yours!
If you like this post, we think you’ll also like our Pasta Cake Recipes post.
