Courgette & Basil Pasta Bake with Roasted Vine Tomatoes and Rocket Salad

I haven't made pasta bake in years, but I was on the hunt for a quick and easy recipe to use up the mountains of pasta in my cupboards when I came across this recipe. I made a few adjustments to veganise it and removed some of the more faffy ingredients and this is what I came up with...

500g pasta (I used wholemeal fusilli)
5 courgettes, grated
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
500g vegan cream cheese
2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tbsp soya milk
small bunch fresh basil
vine cherry tomatoes
rocket
fresh mint
pumpkin seeds

1. Cook the pasta until almost done, then drain and rinse in cold water. Drizzle over some olive oil and leave to one side.
2. Fry the grated courgette for 10 minutes, add the onion and garlic and cook for another few minutes. Drain the courgette mixture and mix into the pasta. Add the chopped fresh basil.
3. Mix the cream cheese with the lemon juice and soya milk. Mix into the pasta and season well, reserving a little of the cream cheese mix for the topping.
4. Spoon pasta into an oven proof dish and cover with the remaining cream cheese mixture. Bake at 180 degrees for about 20 minutes until the top is crispy.
5. Place the vine tomatoes in an oven proof dish, drizzle with a little olive oil and sea salt. Roast for 20 minutes in the oven along with the pasta bake.
6. Toss the rocket leaves with some olive oil, lemon juice, chopped fresh mint and black pepper. Garnish with pumkin seeds.

Serves 6, and is particularly tasty with some homemade garlic flatbread.