Pea, Prosciutto and Tomato Pasta...

Gigli Pasta - cone shaped flowers

This is just a simple pasta dish that is really, really delicious. I'd been craving pasta for a while so made a really quick sauce last night and just added some peas, prosciutto ham, basil and onion. I really wanted to use orecchiette pasta (also known as little ears) which would have held the sauce well but unfortunately Sainsbury's didn't have any. So instead I got 'Gigli,', the next most unusual looking shape, which is rolled into the shape of a conical flower. I think it's the prettiest pasta I've seen and was really delicious. It's hard to use exact quantities, this is more of an idea for a quick pasta dish rather than a proper recipe so just use as much as you like.


Ingredients - (for 2)
2 portions of any type of pasta
Peas
Prosciutto ham
Small white onion, finely chopped
Handful of basil
Clove of garlic, finely chopped or crushed
Can of chopped tomatoes
Tin of tomato puree 
Grated cheese, parmesan or cheddar. 
Black pepper


1. Boil the kettle for the pasta. Get the sauce going by frying the onion and garlic in a little olive oil. Once softened, add the basil and tomato puree for a minute or 2. Then add the chopped tomatoes and simmer for a good 5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, cook the peas in the microwave and tear the ham up. Cook the pasta according to it's instructions. 
3. Add the peas and ham to the sauce and stir in. Add some black pepper.
4. Once the pasta is cooked, drain and coat in the sauce. Divide into bowls and add some cheese, then serve.

Lasagne

Lasagne is such a great dish to make for a crowd. It's one of those things that tastes better as it matures so it's good (and handy) to make a couple of days in advance. I make it using my Dad's famous Bolognese sauce, taught to him by my Grandma when he left home. But I must admit that for the white sauce...  I shamefully used Dolmio.... (only because I was pushed for time and we had some in the cupboard)... If you want to be better and more virtuous than I was, Delia has a good basic recipe for a white sauce. I always use green pasta sheets in lasagne, I think it adds another dimension along with the mushrooms. I serve it with a balsamic dressed green salad. If you drain all the fat off the mince (see recipe), it makes for a healthy dinner.


Ingredients - (makes 1 big lasagne to feed about 6 depending on the size of your dish, you'll probably have some sauce left which you could freeze or serve with some pasta the next day)


2 x 600g lean mince
1 pack closed cup mushrooms, chopped
1 large white onion, diced
3 tins tomato purée
3 tins chopped tomatoes
Good glug of red white
Salt, pepper to season
Garlic flavoured olive oil
2 garlic cloves
Sprinkling of italian mixed herbs
A few gratings of parmesan cheese
Quantity of white sauce (see Delia's recipe or if you're lazy like me, a jar of dolmio)
Lasagne dried pasta sheets  - green is good

1. Fry off the onion in some garlic oil and then brown the mince. Once browned, drain away as much liquid/fat as you can down the sink. Then add the garlic and mushrooms.


2. Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato purée and wine and stir to coat all of the mince.


3. Add some herbs, lots of black pepper and a little salt then grate some parmesan cheese into the sauce.


4. Leave to simmer while stirring occasionally and leave it cooking for about 15-20mins on a low heat to thicken slightly.

5. Once all cooked and cooled (if the sauce is still warm, it will make the pasta curl) you can start to assemble the lasagne. Get a large ovenproof dish and spoon a good layer of sauce to cover the bottom, spreading out evenly. Then cover with a layer of the pasta sheets, cover with a layer of the white sauce, then put more meat sauce before topping again with pasta and the white sauce to finish. Grate some parmesan cheese over the top to crisp it up while it cooks.


6. You can now cover it with clingfilm and leave in the fridge for a couple of days. When cooking the lasagne, let it come up to temperate out of the fridge a couple of hours before and then cook for about 50 minutes in a preheated oven at 180c. It's best when the top has browned and the sauce is just bubbling up at the edges. Serve with a salad.

Proper Italian Pasta Sauce and Fresh Pasta.

When my Great Auntie Jean was alive, she used to make the most incredible pasta sauce. And then one day, while looking through Jamie Oliver's website I saw a basic tomato and basil sauce that I decided to make, when I went to eat it with lots of parmesan and black pepper it reminded me of my Aunt's incredible sauce!! So now for a quick and easy but delicious dinner I knock up some of this sauce and serve it with some fresh tagliatelle and grate lots of parmesan and add soo much blackpepper!

This picture isn't the best but seriously make this pasta and you won't regret it!!

The sauce goes like this (for 2 people) -
1 Red onion
A couple of cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Fresh basil 
A tin of tomato purée
A tin of chopped tomatoes


Fry a red onion in some olive oil and add some finely chopped garlic,
While the heat is still high add the basil into the oil so that it blackens and spits a bit
Then add the puree and let it sweeten for a couple of minutes, you may need to turn the heat down
Then add the chopped tomatoes and reduce the heat, adding more basil.
Cook for as long, or as little as you like. It tastes great in about 10minutes but you could reduce it more.


Then serve with the fresh pasta (I like green or multigrain tagliatelle) but add some of the pasta's cooking water to the sauce to loosen it a little. ADD PARMESAN AND BLACK PEPPER! Sometimes I serve with some asparagus spears on the side. 




If you want to make fresh pasta (I've tried it a couple of times, and yeah it tastes great, you get a great sense of achievement that you've actually made the pasta, but to be honest Sainsbury's fresh stuff is just as good so don't feel you have to) - then use Jamie's recipe.
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/a-basic-recipe-for-fresh-egg-pasta

My version of Jamie's 30mm 'Pregnant Jool's Pasta' - Ragu

After this photo was taken I added lots more sauce, cheese and black pepper.

I've been watching Jamie's 30minute meals, and brought the cookbook that goes with it, and saw this ragu recipe! I've never made a ragu, usually opting for spaghetti bolognese. But I saw a bag of multi-grain tagliatelle that Sainsburys have just brought back and thought this would be perfect with it!

I've modified the recipe, using the tagliatelle instead of penne, mince instead of sausages, red onion instead of the spring. But I thought it tasted delicious! My Boyfriend made 3 batches of it in a week!

Ingredients -

1 red onion

1 carrot

1 stick of celery

1 fresh chilli 

Pack of mince (either pork or beef)

Garlic

1 x 400g tin of plum tomatoes (chop the tomatoes when in the pan)

Herbs - Oregano or mixed italian

Balsamic 

Fresh pasta to serve - I like multigrain tag.

1. Blitz the onion, carrot, celery, chilli and garlic in a food processor until well mixed and then spoon into a hot frying pan with oil. Keep breaking it up and stirring it quickly.

Meanwhile, blitz the mince in the processor to make it finer. Then add this to the pan and stir.

2. Add balsamic and let it cook down and then add the tomatoes. Add some herbs.

3. Put the pasta on, if using fresh it should only take 4mins.

4. Add a little of the starchy pasta water to the sauce if needed to loosen.

5. Then drain the pasta and serve with the sauce and lots of cheese! Cheddar or parmesan work well, finally add some basil and black pepper.

Simple but delicious green tagliatelle with ham, peas, asparagus and red onion...

This pasta is so quick and easy but really delicious. I guess it's more of your student type food.
Basically -
Cut up some Wiltshire ham, asparagus and red onion and fry in a pan with fry-light spray for a couple of minutes. Meanwhile cook some fresh green tagliatelle (my favourite type of pasta) with some frozen peas for 4 minutes. Mix in with the mix in the pan and add a tiny bit of the pasta water to loosen...Et voila! Serve with some grated parmesan cheese.
-If you don't care about the fat content, some people might want to add some cream to this to make it like a carbonara. But I like to keep it healthy.