Pizza pasta bake
55 min · 47 g protein · 471 cals / serving
Everything children love about pizza, baked over a dish of pasta: a rich tomato and oregano sauce with lean beef, mushrooms and peppers, made creamy with blended cottage cheese, then topped with a light layer of bubbling mozzarella and crisp-edged pepperoni. It cuts into tidy, cheesy squares and reheats beautifully for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
- 3 oz penne pasta
- 5 1/2 oz red lentil penne (dry weight) lentil pasta
Sauce
- 1 1/2 tsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 12 oz mushrooms, sliced
- 2 small zucchini, diced
- 1 large bell pepper, red or green, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 cans (14 oz each) canned crushed tomatoes
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 3/4 cups cottage cheese (1%), 1% fat, blended smooth
Topping
- 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- about 20 slices turkey pepperoni slices, or regular pepperoni where turkey pepperoni is hard to find
- 2 tbsp grated parmesan
To serve
- a few leaves fresh basil (optional)
Steps
- Heat the oven to 400°F. Cook the wheat penne in well-salted boiling water for 2 minutes less than the package says, adding the lentil penne partway so it boils 3 minutes less than its own package time (it softens fast in the oven). Drain.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the beef, onion, mushrooms, zucchini and pepper and cook, breaking up the beef, 8–10 minutes, until the mushrooms have given up their liquid and the beef is browned with no pink left, 160°F.
- Stir in the garlic and tomato paste for 1 minute, then add the crushed tomatoes, oregano, basil and salt. Simmer 5 minutes.
- Take the sauce off the heat and stir in the blended cottage cheese until the sauce turns a creamy orange-red. Fold in the pasta and tip it into a 9 x 13-inch (23 x 33 cm) baking dish.
- Scatter the mozzarella over in a light layer, lay the pepperoni slices on top like a pizza and finish with the parmesan. Bake 18–20 minutes, until bubbling and the cheese is golden in spots. Rest 5 minutes, scatter over basil and serve.
Good to know
How do I get the kids involved?
Give them the topping job. Children can sprinkle the cheese and lay out the pepperoni in a smiley face, a pattern or their initials, exactly as they would decorate a pizza.
Why lentil pasta?
Two thirds of the penne is red lentil pasta: in a red, cheesy sauce it blends in with the wheat penne, and it brings far more protein and fiber than wheat pasta. All wheat pasta (8 1/2 oz) works if you prefer; the bake is then a little higher in calories and lower in protein, at about 63 instead of 67.
Why cottage cheese in the sauce?
Blended until smooth, it disappears into the tomato and makes the sauce creamy and rich, like a pizza with extra cheese, for far fewer calories than cream. Nobody at the table will find a curd.
My picky eater won't eat mushrooms
Chop them very finely, almost to a paste, before cooking; they melt into the meat and just make it taste meatier. Or swap them for more pepper or a diced zucchini.
Can I make it ahead?
Assemble it up to a day ahead, cover and refrigerate, then bake 25–30 minutes from cold, until hot in the middle.
Per
- Calories
- 95
- Protein
- (40%)
- 9 g
- Fat
- (25%)
- 3 g
- Carbohydrates
- (35%)
- 9 g
- of which sugar
- 3 g
- Fiber
- 2 g
- Sodium
- 213 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 2827 kcal goes into the pot and 3328 g of ingredients comes out as about 2990 g of food: 95 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.