Showing posts with label pasta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pasta. Show all posts
I have a pasta obsession. Its true. I put my hand up. I cannot resist a dish of fine pasta. I collect pasta like little boys collect bubblegum cards as well. I have a cupboard full of a whole variety of different pasta shapes and sizes.
Whenever I see pasta on offer at the shops, or if I see a different shape that I would like to try, I cannot resist buying it. Dry pasta will keep for a very long time in the cupboard and in fact it will keep for two to three years past its sell by date in all actuality.
That makes it an excellent store cupboard ingredient. Pasta is really quite good for you. It has gotten a bad rap in recent years, and quite undeservedly so. Recently published research indicates that pasta consumption does not contribute to obesity, and has actually been linked to a lower body mass index.
When surveying the eating habits of over 23,000 Italians, researchers found that pasta did not correlate to waist size or BMI among those who had been studied. In all truth pasta is an important component of the Mediterranean diet and has a low glycemic index. (Low GI) Especially if you use a whole grain pasta, which I like to do if I can.
Pasta makes the perfect foundation for a healthy, nutritious and satisfying meal. It is the ideal partner for many other foods, vegetables, beans, fish poultry, red meat, cheeses, eggs, etc. It is also an excellent source of complex carbohydrates.
Low sodium, cholesterol free, and filled with important vitamins such as folic acid, iron and B-vitamins, pasta is and should be an important part of a well-balanced diet. I try to make it a part of my diet several times a week.
Its also fairly inexpensive to buy, and is a great filler-upper! Abundantly versatile, pasta is one ingredient that I would not be without in my store cupboard.
This recipe for Easy Tomato Pasta was adapted from a recipe I found on the BBC Good Food site the other day. Attributed to the chef Lesley Waters, it is not only quite an inexpensive meal to prepare but makes a great use of store cupboard ingredients as well.
Delicious, filling as well as budget and family friendly. Quantities are given for two servings, but it can easily be multiplied to serve more.
Simple store cupboard ingredients. There is the option of adding sliced frankfurters to this dish, but you needn't do so if you want to keep it vegetarian friendly. Or you could add other bits of meat such as ham, spam, tinned corned beef, bacon, etc.
- 1TBS light olive oil
- 1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and finely minced
- 14 oz (400g) tin of chopped tomatoes in juice, undrained
- pinch sugar
- few dashes Worcestershire sauce
- 3 1/2 ounces (scant cup/100g) rigatoni or other tubular pasta shape
- 1/2 cup (50g) cheddar or gruyere cheese, grated
- a hunk of baguette or a slice of bread, coarsely grated
- salt and pepper to taste
Optional:
- 2 frankfurters/hotdogs, sliced
I always have tinned tomatoes in my larder. I like to keep a few larger cans of whole tomatoes for times when I am cooking something large, but for the most part I keep the smaller 400g tins, which are better suited to the smaller household.
Having said that however, you can very easily freeze the tomatoes which don't get used from a larger tin in an airproof freezer container.
Its a lot cheaper to grate your own cheese if you can. I do that most of the time. This recipe also makes use of stale bread in the topping. I used a thick slice of stale cheese bread that I had leftover from a loaf I had bought at the local farm market. It was delicious!
A very simple dressing to make uses 1/2 TBS of mayonnaise, 2 TBS oil, 1 TBS cider vinegar and 1 teaspoon of honey or sugar. I add seasoning and some dried dillweed to taste. I just shake this all together in a jar and toss the salad together with it. Its delicious!
HOW TO MAKE EASY TOMATO PASTA
Nothing could be simpler. This is a real doddle.
Preheat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about a minute longer.
Add the undrained tomatoes and the sugar. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes.
Cook the pasta until al dente according to the package directions. Drain well, rinse and drain again.
Add the Worcestershire sauce to the tomato sauce and season to taste. If you are using the frankfurters, add them to the sauce now. Pour this mixture into a heat-proof dish.
Mix the bread crumbs and cheese together. Scatter the cheesy crumbs over top of the pasta in the dish.
Preheat the grill/broiler to high.
Pop the cheese crumb coated dish under the grill and toast for 3 to 5 minutes, until bubbling hot and golden. Serve hot with a salad on the side.
This was surprisingly delicious. Such a simple meal, with very little effort and so economical. The sauce is simple and yet very tasty.
I did add hotdogs, and they also went surprisingly well with the remainder of the ingredients. Don't leave out the Worcestershire sauce. It really adds a bit of tasty magic!
Some other pasta dishes in The English Kitchen that you might also enjoy are:
PASTA WITH CHICKEN BROTH, BUTTER & CHEESE - This brilliant pasta dish is a beautiful example of simple and uncomplicated foods. Food done well and put together in a most delicious way. Stock and pasta are the basis of this very simple and yet delicious dish in which pasta is quite simply cooked in a quantity of stock . . . It doesn't get much easier than this.
SAUCY PASTA HOOPS - Did you used to like Spaghetti hoops (Spaghetti-o's) when you were a child? It wasn't something we had very often but when we did it was a real favorite! A grown up version of a childhood favorite, all cooked in one pan. Rich and cheesy and oh so easy to make! NO fuss, NO muss, and delicious to boot.
Yield: 2 servings
Easy Tomato Pasta
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 30 MinTotal time: 40 Min
A quick, easy, economical and adaptably hearty pasta dish for two!
Ingredients
- 1TBS light olive oil
- 1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and finely minced
- 14 oz (400g) tin of chopped tomatoes in juice, undrained
- pinch sugar
- few dashes Worcestershire sauce
- 3 1/2 ounces (scant cup/100g) rigatoni or other tubular pasta shape
- 1/2 cup (50g) cheddar or gruyere cheese, grated
- a hunk of baguette or a slice of bread, coarsely grated
- salt and pepper to taste
Optional:
- 2 frankfurters/hotdogs, sliced
Instructions
- Preheat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about a minute longer.
- Add the undrained tomatoes and the sugar. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Cook the pasta until al dente according to the package directions. Drain well, rinse and drain again.
- Add the Worcestershire sauce to the tomato sauce and season to taste. If you are using the frankfurters, add them to the sauce now. Pour this mixture into a heat-proof dish.
- Mix the bread crumbs and cheese together. Scatter the cheesy crumbs over top of the pasta in the dish.
- Preheat the grill/broiler to high.
- Pop the cheese crumb coated dish under the grill and toast for 3 to 5 minutes, until bubbling hot and golden. Serve hot with a salad on the side.
Thanks so much for visiting! Do come again!
Hello there! I could hardly wait to show you this delicious recipe I am sharing with you today! I get a newsletter every week from Barefeet in the Kitchen. In it the author Mary Younkin shares some of the goings on her life and links to several recipes. Some hers, and some from other pages.
In her latest newsletter she shared this recipe for Mushroom Broccoli Pasta which was from a site called Vegetable Recipes. As soon as I saw it I knew that I wanted to make it!
So much so that I immediately ran next door to the Farmer's market to pick up some fresh mushrooms. Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever been inspired to make a recipe on the day you discover it?
I sure hope so and I hope that I have inspired you in that same way from time to time!!!
First of all I loved that there was no meat in this recipe. I don't always like to eat meat. I am often perfectly happy with just vegetables and potatoes or rice or pasta. If the sauce is rich and delicious enough you don't need any protein.
This sauce sounded just rich and tasty enough that I knew it wouldn't need any protein and it contained some of my favorite things such as broccoli, mushrooms and pasta!
I also felt that I could easily adapt it to feed few people than six, and so I cut the recipe in half to serve only three.
I liked that I could use any type of pasta that I wanted to use, so long as it was shortish. I had a box of Garofalo Cappellitti pasta that I thought would be perfect for this recipe.
It is round and has a cup shaped center which is perfect for holding sauces. I love pasta and when I see any kind of pasta that has a different shape to it I will scoop it up!
This worked perfectly but any short type of pasta would work.
I loved also that it used broccoli. Broccoli is one of my favorite vegetables and so good for you! It is not a vegetable that we had at all when I was growing up. My father would only eat certain vegetables. Green Beans, carrots, corn and peas.
He now eats all kinds of vegetables because he eats at my sister's house every night and she makes him eat whatever she cooks, which means healthy and often a vegetable he is not overly fond of! lol He eats it anyways, and will just say, that's not my favorite!
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE MUSHROOM BROCCOLI PASTA
There is nothing complicated about this. I am sure you probably have everything in your larder/refrigerator to use right now!
- 4 ounces (1 cup/114g) mini penne pasta or other bite sized pasta
- 1 1/2 cups broccoli florets (1 small crown)
- 2 TBS butter, divided
- 4 ounces (1/4 pound/114g) white mushrooms, sliced
- 1 TBS plain all purpose flour
- 1 cup (240ml) chicken stock
- 1/2 cup (120ml) heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp granulated garlic or garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt or to taste
- 1/4 tsp black pepper or to taste
- 1/4 cup (45g) grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 TBS chopped fresh parsley
To serve:
- Additional grated Parmesan cheese to serve
I am sure you could use frozen broccoli if you wanted to, but you wouldn't have to add it to the cooking pasta until about a minute before it is done. Basically just to thaw it out and cook it a tiny bit. You want the broccoli to stay crispy tender.
Use any shortish pasta. I think one that will grab the sauce and hug it is best of all. I chose to add the Parmesan to the sauce. The original recipe didn't specify this, so I went with my gut instincts and then just sprinkled a bit of Parmesan on the top when it was done.
HOW TO MAKE MUSHROOM BROCCOLI PASTA
I streamlined the instructions and made it so that you could have the pasta cooking in a saucepan while you made the sauce, adding the broccoli to the pasta at the end so that when drained you could just toss them both together and serve.
Put a saucepan of lightly salted water on to boil.
Melt 1 TBS of the butter in a skillet. Add the mushrooms. Cook, stirring frequently, over medium high heat, until golden brown. Remove to a bowl lined with several paper towels. Set aside to drain.
Melt the remaining TBS of butter in the skillet. Add the flour, whisking it in until smooth. Slowly whisk in the chicken stock. Increase to medium high and bring to a simmer. Cook for 2 minutes.
In the meantime add your pasta to the boiling water and cook to al dente as per the package instructions. Add the broccoli florets about a minute before the pasta is cooked. Drain well, but do not rinse.
While the pasta is cooking, add the cream, garlic, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper to the chicken stock sauce. Bring to a simmer and simmer on low, stirring constantly for 3 minutes. The sauce will start to thicken slightly. Taste and adjust seasoning as required.
Remove from the heat. Toss in the drained pasta and broccoli and the mushrooms, tossing everything together to coat. Serve hot, topped with additional parmesan cheese. (See notes)
Notes
You can add diced cooked chicken, flaked salmon, tuna, or ham to this if you wish.
This was very delicious. I think I ate half of the whole lot!! One and a half servings! I loved that it was so simple and quick to make and yet tasted like I had spent hours on it.
If you are looking for a quick and easy main vegetarian dish, this fits the bill perfectly. I think it would also be a great way to use up some leftover proteins if you are so inclined such as salmon, or chicken, even ham!
Some other simple, quick and easy pasta dishes here in The English Kitchen that you might enjoy are:
PASTA E PISELLI - Fabulously tasty, quick and easy. Simple too. This recipe only calls for frozen peas, chopped onion, pasta, water and some cheese. You could call this Pasta and Peas.
MARTHA STEWART'S ONE PAN PASTA FOR TWO - Everything cooks all together in one pan. Linguini, basil, red pepper flakes, cherry tomatoes, onion and seasoning. Simply delicious.
Yield: 3
Mushroom Broccoli Pasta
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 15 MinTotal time: 25 Min
Tender pasta with a rich and garlicky cream sauce, crispy tender pieces of broccoli and meaty mushrooms. What's not to love! Quick, easy, delicious!
Ingredients
- 4 ounces (1 cup/114g) mini penne pasta or other bite sized pasta
- 1 1/2 cups broccoli florets (1 small crown)
- 2 TBS butter, divided
- 4 ounces (1/4 pound/114g) white mushrooms, sliced
- 1 TBS plain all purpose flour
- 1 cup (240ml) chicken stock
- 1/2 cup (120ml) heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp granulated garlic or garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt or to taste
- 1/4 tsp black pepper or to taste
- 1/4 cup (45g) grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 TBS chopped fresh parsley
To serve:
- Additional grated Parmesan cheese to serve
Instructions
- Put a saucepan of lightly salted water on to boil.
- Melt 1 TBS of the butter in a skillet. Add the mushrooms. Cook, stirring frequently, over medium high heat, until golden brown. Remove to a bowl lined with several paper towels. Set aside to drain.
- Melt the remaining TBS of butter in the skillet. Add the flour, whisking it in until smooth. Slowly whisk in the chicken stock. Increase to medium high and bring to a simmer. Cook for 2 minutes.
- In the meantime add your pasta to the boiling water and cook to al dente as per the package instructions. Add the broccoli florets about a minute before the pasta is cooked. Drain well, but do not rinse.
- While the pasta is cooking, add the cream, garlic, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper to the chicken stock sauce. Bring to a simmer and simmer on low, stirring constantly for 3 minutes. The sauce will start to thicken slightly. Taste and adjust seasoning as required.
- Remove from the heat. Toss in the drained pasta and broccoli and the mushrooms, tossing everything together to coat.
- Serve hot, topped with additional parmesan cheese. (See notes)
Notes
You can add diced cooked chicken, flaked salmon, tuna, or ham to this if you wish.
Thank you so much for visiting! Do come again!
Today I baked us another sheet pan recipe for our tea. Sheet Pan Macaroni and Cheese. It was a recipe that I had saved by Amanda Hesser on Food52. If you have never perused that site, I highly recommend you join it. It is a veritable cornucopia of delicious recipes and meal ideas.
As soon as I saw this recipe for Sheet Pan Mac and Cheese I bookmarked it as something I wanted to make. I love mac and cheese and I love sheet pan suppers. The idea that you could combine those two ideas was really appealing to me.
Macaroni and Cheese is one of my absolute favorite things to eat. I try not to have it very often because really, its quite high in fat and not that good for you, but every now and then I cannot help myself.
It is not something that my mother ever made for us when I was growing up. I am not sure why.
We did have macaroni, on occasion, but it was always served plain, mixed with tomatoes and ground beef as a sort of goulash. Never with cheese. The closest we ever came to mac and cheese was the occasional treat of the blue boxed mac and cheese. That was a very rare treat.
To be honest, I was rather fussy when it came to cheese when I was growing up. I didn't mind processed cheese, but I was too afraid to get stuck into "real" cheese. Mom would buy some cracker barrel at Christmas, but I could never be tempted to eat it.
It wasn't until I got married that I started to sometimes cook with "real" cheese and came to enjoy it. And, of course, when I moved over to the UK and got to taste really GOOD cheese, I fell in love with it.
I remember when I first moved to the UK, I would go to the Chester City Market to shop. They had all sorts of stalls in there. Meat/butchers, fish mongers, green grocers, bakers, and a beautiful cheese shop. They would sell sandwich sized bags of crumbled cheese ends for 50 pence. You never really knew what kind of cheese it was. It was just marked cheese.
It was a really good price really and I always picked up a few bags that I would then bring home and make us some mac and cheese, or cheese on toast or cheese filled omelets with. So good.
You can't live in a country that produces the best cheddar in the world and not fall in love with it! Then when I cooked at the Manor, I used to be responsible for putting together cheese trays to close their Dinner Parties with. You had to know what you were eating in order to put together a tasty tray.
I got to try and taste an abundance of different cheeses and really good cheeses to be honest. I really did fall in love with all sorts of cheese and have quite an experienced palate now. I love cheese.
One of the nicest ones I got to try was this one that their daughter's In-Laws had brought over from Germany. I think it was called Tete de Moine. It was a semi hard washed rind cheese and was secured on a board with a metal pole running up the centre of the cheese round which was attached to a cheese cutter handle. This tool was called a Girolle. It scraped around the surface of the cheese, paring it into thin rosettes, which greatly resembled carnation flowers. Very yummy.
That is not the cheese used for this very delicious Sheet Pan Mac and Cheese. For this you will want two strengths of a good cheddar cheese. And quite a lot of it. (Yes, it is very naughty!)
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE SHEET PAN MACARONI AND CHEESE
Other than a good sturdy sheet pan, basically only a very few ingredients.
- 1 TBS butter
- 12 ounces (3 cups/340g) extra sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
- 12 ounces (3 cups/340g) sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
- 4 cups (454g) elbow macaroni (or other small shape)
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, plus more to garnish
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 2/3 cup (160ml) whole milk
Do try to get the best cheddar possible for this, both a strong and an extra strong (Old and Extra Old). You won't regret it. Also don't be tempted to use anything less than a whole milk for this recipe.
Whole milk will give you the rich result that you want. In for a penny in for a pound. You've got all that cheese, why quibble over full fat milk. This is not a recipe you want to be figuring out the calories and fat content of!
It is important that you use the right sized sheet pan for this. You want one where you can spread everything out in a nice thinnish layer so that you can get optimum surface crunch, with more of the macaroni and cheese being exposed to both the hot sheet pan and the hot oven.
If your pan is too small, your macaroni cheese won't get as crunchy. I don't know about you, but cheese crunch is one of my favorite things!
HOW TO MAKE SHEET PAN MACARONI AND CHEESE
I was amazed at how very easy this was to make. The hardest part is grating all the cheese!
Preheat the oven to 475*F/246*C/ gas mark 4. Using the TBS of butter, generously grease a rimmed sheet pan that measures 11-inches (28cm) by 17-inches (44 cm). Set aside.
Cook your macaroni according to the package directions, knocking 2 minutes off the cook time. Drain well, rinse, drain again. Pour the macaroni into a bowl.
Grate your cheeses and combine. Remove 2 heaped cups (2 1/4 cups/260g) and reserve. Toss the remainder into the bowl with the macaroni. Add salt, pepper and the cayenne pepper, again tossing to combine.
Spread the macaroni mixture into the baking sheet, spreading it out evenly. Pour the milk evenly over the surface. Sprinkle the reserved cheese evenly over top.
Sprinkle on some additional cayenne pepper if desired.
Bake for 15 minutes, uncovered, until golden brown and crisp in areas. Serve hot.
If you are looking for crisp, cheesy decadence, you really can't go wrong with this recipe. Its deliciously indulgent, with a lovely amount of crunchy bits, both on the bottom and the top.
Rich. Rich. Rich.
You probably don't want to know the fat and calorie content. I sent a goodly part of this home with my sister. It was really delicious and I didn't think I could be trusted not to do myself some serious harm with it in the house!
This makes a wonderful, once in a blue moon treat!
If you are looking for something not quite so indulgent, might I suggest the following:
SKINNY MAC & CHEESE - Lower in fat and calories, high in fiber and protein, but not compromised in flavor in any way. If you are wanting to indulge in Mac and Cheese without going over the top, this could be your Mac and Cheese. Its really very good.
BROCCOLI & CAULIFLOWER MAC & CHEESE - This is a delicious way to indulge your need for mac and cheese and at the same time get in two of your five a day. There is roughly half as much vegetables in this as there is macaroni, which helps to cut back on the carbs. This really is delicious and is one of my favorites!
Yield: 6
Sheet Pan Mac & Cheese
Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 15 MinTotal time: 30 Min
All I can say is oh my goodness! This is the cheesiest. Decadent.
Ingredients
- 1 TBS butter
- 12 ounces (3 cups/340g) extra sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
- 12 ounces (3 cups/340g) sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
- 4 cups (454g) elbow macaroni (or other small shape)
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, plus more to garnish
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 2/3 cup (160ml) whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 475*F/246*C/ gas mark 4. Using the TBS of butter, generously grease a rimmed sheet pan that measures 11-inches (28cm) by 17-inches (44 cm). Set aside.
- Cook your macaroni according to the package directions, knocking 2 minutes off the cook time. Drain well, rinse, drain again. Pour the macaroni into a bowl.
- Grate your cheeses and combine. Remove 2 heaped cups (2 1/4 cups/260g) and reserve. Toss the remainder into the bowl with the macaroni. Add salt, pepper and the cayenne pepper, again tossing to combine.
- Spread the macaroni mixture into the baking sheet, spreading it out evenly. Pour the milk evenly over the surface. Sprinkle the reserved cheese evenly over top.
- Sprinkle on some additional cayenne pepper if desired.
- Bake for 15 minutes, uncovered, until golden brown and crisp in areas. Serve hot.
Thanks so much for visiting! Do come again!
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