The perfect cut-out-and-keep pasta bake recipe for hungry back-to-schoolers

With back-to-school looming or already started for some, I’m sharing a real family favourite. This is the perfect cut-out-and-keep recipe that’s so handy to have. I cook this very regularly and leftovers are just as nice the next day. This makes a big pasta bake to feed six, so it can be worth freezing half for another day if you don’t think you’ll eat it all. The slaw is perfect for meal prep. It can be made a few days ahead and is a delicious side dish to so many things. It has a light and bright vinaigrette dressing that’s so good in sandwiches or with roast chicken.

I’ve used beef for this pasta bake, but I regularly use flavoured sausages too. O’Flynns Sausages here in Cork make an amazing sweet Italian sausage with fennel seed. It really enhances a dish to use a flavoured, good-quality sausage as a base. There’s also less need for additional seasoning. Just remove the casings and cook as pork mince in the pan, breaking it down with a wooden spoon as you cook it. I always keep some in the freezer as a backup when I have nothing else planned for dinner.

Pasta will always be pure comfort food for me. I love rigatoni, and Italian brand Russo make a beautiful one that’s widely available. You can use any pasta shape you like here, such as penne or fusilli. My children have grown quite obsessed with this particular brand though and notice even a slight change in scale or texture, so I’m sticking with that. It’s the same with Bunalun orzo, they just love that particular brand and the way it cooks so well and holds its rice-like shape.

I’m always amazed at what my kids like and dislike. Fennel is high on their list of vegetables that they love, so I include it often. Its fresh, slightly aniseed flavour works so well here and provides great crunch in the slaw.