Baked farfalle with tuna

"What's for lunch tomorrow?"

The last we had a baked pasta was when we were holidaying in States, and it was a home-cooked baked meat spaghetti by my dear sis. It was really good, especially the meatballs with lots of herbs, and even until now, I'm still thinking of it at times.

Somehow, I'm not ready to make the seems-so-tedious meatballs. So when I saw mui mui's Tuna Pasta Bake, I was all ready to prepare it. However, I did not follow her recipe to a T, except for the delicious cheesy/mushroom sauce.

This was actually baked last week but it took me a while to complete jotting down the recipe and method. With the cheesy/ mushroom sauce, this baked farfalle is very delicious!

Baked Farfalle
(serve 6-8 persons)

 (A) about 200g farfalle (or any pasta) (I didn't measure it, just grab 6 handfuls of pasta)
1 tsp salt

(B) yellow onions
olive oil
1 can of tuna in chunks
baby carrots
broccoli
fresh tomatoes, diced
shiitake mushrooms
prawns
some dried mixed herbs
2 cups ready pasta sauce (I used Prego's fresh mushroom italian sauce)

(C) grated parmesan cheese, to sprinkle  (optional)
grated cheddar cheese, to sprinkle (optional)

1. Boil farfalle in a pot of boiling water and salt as per instructions. Drained and set aside.
2. Boil carrots and broccoli in a separate pot for about 3- 5 mins. Drained and set aside.
3. In a pan, fry yellow onions in olive oil till slightly brown. Add in mushrooms, followed by prawns and fry for about 3 mins.
4. Add in carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, tuna and dried mixed herbs and continue frying for about 1-2 mins.
5. Add in pasta sauce and cook till mixture boils. Remove from heat.
6. Stir in farfalle.
7. In a oven-proof dish, pour in farfalle with sauce. Set aside.
8. Top farfalle with cheesy/ mushroom sauce.
9. Sprinkle with some grated parmesan cheese and cheddar cheese.
10. Bake in pre-heated oven 180 deg C for about 10 mins, or when the top is slightly golden brown.

Cheesy (mushroom) sauce
(recipe adapted from My little favourite DIY)
yellow onion
40g butter
100g brown cap mushroom (I omit)
2 tbsp plain flour
300ml milk
60g grated cheddar cheese

1. To make cheesy/ mushroom sauce, fry the onion in the butter till soft.
2. Then add in flour and continue stirring for a minutes.
3. When it's well mixed, gradually add in milk, continue stirring to prevents lumps.
4. When the mixture is slightly thickened and smooth, remove from heat.
5. Stir in cheese.
6. Season to taste. I added slightly less than 1 tsp of salt.