Delicious Italian Pasta Bake With Puréed Zucchini and Mozzarella

For the Béchamel sauce

Melt the butter in a cooking pot on low heat. Add the flour, sauté for 1-2 minutes but don’t let it become brown. Stir constantly!

Add the milk little by little. Stir while doing this then put on a higher heat. Keep stirring while bringing it to a boil until the Béchamel sauce thickens

Put the stove back on low heat and stir while adding pepper, salt and nutmeg. After 2-3 minutes you are done!

For the Pasta Bake

Dice the zucchini into 1cmx1cm cubes and put them in a large pan. Add a finely cut garlic clove, half a glas of water, a splash of olive oil as well as salt and pepper.

Cook for about 10 minutes while stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat and let it cool down for a minute. Put the zucchini cubes in a bowl with some basil leaves and purée. Add some water if the purée is too thick.

Cook the pasta al dente in salted boiling water. (Save a ladle of pasta water!). Stir the purée into the freshly cooked pasta, add the pasta water, the mozzarella and the Béchamel sauce. Stir until well combined. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Transfer the pasta to a casserole dish and put it into the oven for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes activate the grill function of your oven to get a crispy top. Leave it for another 5 minutes. Take it out of the oven, let it cook for a minute and enjoy!