Tag: pasta

Sausage ragu pasta bake

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The ultimate warming winter pasta dish. Eat it on a chilly day, it’s like a radiator for your insides. Feeds 2 generously

  • 1 tbsp veg oil
  • 4 sausages
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 carrot, finely diced
  • 1 stick celery, finely diced
  • 3 tbsp tomato puree
  • 1 beef stock cube
  • 250ml red wine
  • 1 tin chopped tomatoes
  • ½ tsp sugar
  • 1 bay leaf
  • ½ tsp dried thyme
  • Salt and black pepper
  • 200g pasta shapes
  • Cheddar, grated
  1. In a deep frying pan, heat the oil over medium high
  2. Squeeze the sausages into pieces into the pan and break up further with a wooden spoon
  3. Cook until well-browned and then remove from the pan
  4. Reduce the temperature and add the onion, celery, carrot and garlic to the pan
  5. Cook, stirring often, until soft
  6. Add the stock cube and tomato puree, stir well to combine and cook for a couple of mins
  7. Add the wine and turn the heat up. Use the liquid to scrape the brown off the bottom of the pan
  8. Add the tinned tomatoes, half a tin of water, thyme, bay leaf, sugar, salt and pepper
  9. Bring to a bubble, then add the sausage back in
  10. Simmer for 20-30 mins until thickened and rich
  11. In the meantime, pre-heat the oven to 170C fan (190C) and cook the pasta in salted boiling water, draining it 2-3 mins before it’s fully cooked
  12. Mix the undercooked pasta with the sauce and tip the whole thing into a casserole dish, top with grated cheese and bake for 20-30 mins until golden and bubbling
  13. Allow to sit for 10 mins until it’s slightly less hot than a lake of boiling lava, then serve with a crispy green salad

Elote-inspired chicken pasta salad

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Inspired by the delicious flavours of the Mexican corn-on-the-cob snack – with added pasta and chicken for weeknight dinner delights.

  • 250g small pasta shapes
  • 1 red pepper, diced
  • 1 tin sweetcorn, drained
  • ½ red onion, finely diced (or a small handful of pink pickled onions, roughly chopped)
  • Handful fresh coriander, chopped
  • 4 chicken thighs
  • 1 tbsp veg oil
  • Juice of ½ lime
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • ½ tsp onion powder
  • ½ tsp dried oregano
  • ½ tsp cumin
  • Pinch of salt
  • 4 tbsp mayonnaise
  • 1 tbsp plain yoghurt
  • Juice of ½ lime
  • 1 tsp honey
  • 1 tsp tajin
  • ½ tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • ½ tsp smoked paprika
  1. Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until al dente (couple of mins less than usual)
  2. Once cooked, drain and rinse under cold water
  3. Add to a big bowl with sweetcorn, pepper, onion and coriander
  4. Marinate the chicken in veg oil, lime juice and spices
  5. Grill until tender and cooked through, then allow to cool and cut into bitesized pieces. Reserve any of the cooking juices and keep to one side
  6. Mix together all the dressing ingredients thoroughly, and then add to the pasta mixture and combine
  7. Add the chicken and any reserved cooking juices, and mix everything well

Orzo and swede

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Sounds basic, tastes incredible. The most comforting and kind (and cheap!) supper. Feeds 2

  • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 tbsp salted butter
  • 1 large swede, peeled and cubed into 1-2 cm pieces
  • ½ tsp salt
  • Grated nutmeg
  • ½ tsp pul biber
  • Black pepper
  • 4 garlic cloves, sliced
  • 225g orzo
  • 1 veg stock cube or stockpot
  • 950ml boiling water
  • 2 tsp sherry vinegar
  • Finely chopped dill
  • Grated parmesan/pecorino
  1. Put a deep saute pan or saucepan over medium heat, add the oil and butter and heat until the butter melts
  2. Add the swede cubes and season with salt
  3. Stir to coat in the butter and oil, then cook, stirring often, for 15-20 mins or until the swede starts to darken and soften.
  4. Stir in the nutmeg, pul biber, black pepper and garlic. Stir together and cook for a further 5-10 mins, squashing and slightly mashing the swede
  5. Add the orzo and veg stock and stir into the buttery swede until the orzo is well coated and the stock has dissolved
  6. Pour over the boiling water and add the sherry vinegar, turn the heat up and bring to a bubble
  7. Turn the heat to a simmer and cook with the lid off for 8-12 mins (until the orzo is cooked and most of the liquid has evaporated), stirring occasionally so it doesn’t stick. Taste to check seasoning
  8. Remove from the heat and stir in the dill and some grated parmesan
  9. Serve immediately with more grated parmesan on top

Chorizo broccoli pasta

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Inspired by James Acaster’s love of chorizo broccoli pasta and tweaked from Tom Kerridge’s recipe by the same name, this is the perfect weeknight supper. Flavour-heavy and difficulty-light. Feeds 2 hungry people

  • 250g pasta shapes
  • 1 tsp veg oil
  • 200g cooking chorizo, diced
  • 200g long stem broc, cut into 1 inch pieces
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 red chilli, finely chopped but not deseeded
  • 3 tsp capers, roughly chopped
  • 30g parmesan, grated
  • Handful parsley, chopped
  • Zest of ½ lemon
  1. Boil pasta in plenty of salted boiling water for as long as it needs
  2. While it cooks, heat oil in deep frying pan over medium heat and fry the chorizo until it starts to get crispy
  3. Add garlic and stir until fragrant
  4. Then add broccoli, chilli and capers, plus a splash of pasta water for the steam, and cook for 5 mins or so until broccoli is just tender
  5. Drain the pasta, retaining 250ml pasta water. Add the cooked pasta and about two thirds of the saved pasta water
  6. Stir together vigorously, add the parmesan and continue to stir until it emulsifies into a glossy orange sauce
  7. Season with lemon zest, plenty of black pepper and salt to taste (remembering that the chorizo, cheese and capers are already salty)
  8. Serve immediately, topped with the chopped parsley and more parmesan if you like

Miso butter roasted carrot pasta

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Silky, savoury and bright orange, this is just the thing when you want a comforting pile of pasta but you aren’t feeling like tomato- or cheese-based sauce (I know, when does that ever happen?!) This is really good though, especially if you can get carrots with the leaves still on and make carrot-top pesto too!

  • 500g carrots
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 tbsp salted butter
  • 2 tsp white miso
  • 3 cloves confit garlic
  • Freshly grated parmesan
  • Toasted flaked almonds
  • Carrot-top pesto (whizz up chopped carrot leaves, parsley, olive oil, confit garlic, parmesan, almonds, a pinch of salt)
  1. Slice the carrots, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper
  2. Roast until soft and brown round the edges (oven at 180 for 40 mins or air fryer on roast for 20)
  3. When the carrots have about 10 mins left, cook the pasta in salted boiling water
  4. Tip the carrots into a bowl or blender jug and use a hand blender to puree with 200ml of past water, plus the butter, miso, garlic. Stir in more water if you’d like a looser texture
  5. Stir the silky orange sauce through the pasta and serve topped with drifts of grated parmesan, toasty flaked almonds and spots of the bright, herby carrot-top pesto

Tortellini soup

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Comfort in a bowl. Warm, savoury, and so simple it’s a great weeknight meal. Feeds 2 hungry people

  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 4 sausages
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • ½ onion, finely chopped
  • 1 small carrot, finely diced
  • 1 stick celery, finely diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tbsp tomato puree
  • 1 chicken stock cube (plus 750ml boiling water)
  • 250ml white wine
  • 250g fresh tortellini
  • Salt and pepper
  • Fresh thyme
  • 1 tbsp cornflour
  • 50 ml cream
  • 100g young spinach
  1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium-high heat
  2. Pinch off small pieces of sausage, drop them into the pan and brown them on all sides
  3. Scoop the sausage out of the pan and put on one side
  4. Lower the heat and put the onion, carrot, celery and garlic into the pan
  5. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 mins until everything is soft
  6. Add the stock cube and tomato puree, stirring into the vegetables until everything combines
  7. Pour in the white wine and turn the heat to medium. Bubble until the wine has almost disappeared
  8. Add 750ml boiling water, sausage pieces and some fresh thyme leaves. Season with salt and pepper and stir everything together
  9. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down low and simmer for 7 mins
  10. Tip in the fresh tortellini and cook for a further 3 mins (or as per the directions on the packaging)
  11. Mix the cornflour with a little water and pour into the soup, stirring as you add it
  12. Cook for another 2 mins until the soup thickens, then turn the heat off and add the cream and spinach (the spinach should just wilt in the heat of the soup – turn the heat on to a low simmer if you need to give this a helping hand)
  13. Serve immediately in a big, deep bowl, maybe with a grating of parmesan and a sprinkle of finely chopped chives

Spinach and ricotta cannelloni

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Sometimes you just need tubes of pasta full of iron-rich spinach and creamy cheese, enveloped in a rich garlicky tomato sauce. And of course topped with melted toasty cheese

  • 400g spinach
  • 6 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 egg
  • 30g parmesan, grated
  • 250g ricotta
  • 30g basil, roughly chopped
  • 150g (around 15 tubes) dry cannelloni
  • 4 cloves garlic, finely sliced
  • 400g passata
  • ½ tsp sugar
  • Salt and pepper
  • 40g cheddar, grated
  1. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large deep pan
  2. Sauté the spinach until it wilts then tip into a sieve – you can do this in stages if the spinach doesn’t doesn’t fit at once
  3. Press and squeeze out all the liquid from the spinach
  4. Then leave to cool for a bit, and then chop the spinach
  5. Put the spinach in a bowl, add the egg, parmesan, ricotta and half the basil
  6. Stir together well and set to one side
  7. Heat the other 4 tbsp oil over a medium heat and add the garlic slices
  8. Sauté until garlic is golden and then add the passata, sugar plus half a tin of water
  9. Stir together, season with salt and plenty of black pepper
  10. Heat to a bubble, cook for 5 mins and then stir in the rest of the basil
  11. Turn off the heat and set to one side
  12. Pre-heat the oven to 170C fan/190C
  13. Use a teaspoon (or, if you’re fancy, a piping bag) to fill the cannelloni tubes one at a time. There should be enough mixture to the fill each one to overflowing
  14. As you fill them, place the filled tubes neatly in rows in an ovenproof ceramic dish
  15. Pour the tomato sauce over the top and sprinkle with grated cheddar
  16. Bake for 45 mins until the top is browned and the pasta is soft when you stick a sharp knife into one of the tubes
  17. Leave to stand for 5 mins before serving so as not to burn the inside of your mouth off with molten sauce

Garlic chilli spaghetti

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Lip-smackingly savoury, kind of fusion, carb heaven. However you describe it, the perfect weeknight dinner ready in 12 mins. Feeds 2

  • 250g spaghetti
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, cut into thin slices
  • 1 heaped tsp unsalted butter
  • 2 tsp chilli flakes
  • 1 tbsp oyster sauce
  • 2 tsp soy sauce
  • 25g parmesan, finely grated
  • 7 or so chives, finely chopped
  1. Cook spaghetti in salted boiling water for 9 mins (retaining 50ml of the pasta water when you drain it)
  2. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat, then add the garlic
  3. Cook until golden – don’t take your eyes off them, you don’t want them to turn dark brown or burn!
  4. Fish the garlic out of the oil, add the butter and stir to melt
  5. Add chilli flakes and sizzle them for a moment before adding the oyster sauce and soy sauce
  6. Swirl to combine everything
  7. Add the cooked spaghetti with the retained cooking water and turn through the sauce
  8. Add parmesan and chives and mix through
  9. Remove from heat and serve straight away, sprinkled with the garlic chips you made earlier. Plus perhaps an extra sprinkle of chives, some crispy chilli and toasted sesame seeds on top

Salad bag pesto and butternut squash lasagne

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

It’s got stripes of orange and green! And it’s flipping delicious! There’s literally no down side. Feeds 4.

This recipe is multi-stage, but every step is very simple and the end result is fully worth it, promise.

It’s also endlessly adaptable, so the perfect way to use up leftover odds and ends of nuts, fresh-but-floppy herbs and a slightly-past-its-best bag of salad. Especially as bagged salads are one of the most wasted foods in Britain, with over half of them ending up in landfill. This recipe is inspired by and dedicated to the bloody extraordinary Jack Monroe.

  • 1 butternut squash, deseeded and peeled
  • 1 head of garlic, cloves separated but unpeeled
  • Nutmeg
  • 3 tbsp veg oil
  • 100g bag of salad (I like a rocket, spinach and watercress combo, but anything will work as long as it’s not iceberg)
  • 100g nuts, toasted gently in a dry pan until golden (I prefer a combination of almonds and pine nuts but, again, it can be anything you like/have leftover)
  • Handful of fresh herbs (parsley is good, or basil, a bit of dill or mint. Not so much the hard herbs like rosemary)
  • 2 tsp garlic oil
  • 50ml olive oil
  • 30g parmesan, grated
  • 200g mascapone
  • 100g cream cheese
  • 60ml milk
  • 7 pucks frozen spinach, defrosted and liquid squeezed out through a sieve
  • 50g cheddar, grated
  • 250g fresh pasta sheets
  • Salt and pepper
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C fan (200C)
  2. Quarter the butternut squash from top to bottom, and slice into thin pieces around ½ cm wide
  3. Chuck the slices into a baking tray with the unpeeled garlic cloves, then drizzle over the veg oil and season with salt, pepper and a few scrapes of nutmeg
  4. Mix well and then stick in the oven for 30-40 mins until the squash is tender and soft
  5. Take out and pop on the side to cool a bit. Then squeeze the garlic out of its skin and back into the pan. Use a potato masher to roughly crush the squash and garlic together. You’re after a chunky mash, not a smooth puree
  6. Meanwhile, tip the salad into a bowl, add the herbs, toasted nuts, garlic oil, olive oil and a large pinch of salt
  7. Use a hand blender to whizz it into a bright green, fragrant pesto – don’t blitz it into oblivion, you still want a bit of texture
  8. In another bowl, mix the mascapone, cream cheese, spinach and milk. Season with salt and pepper (and a bit more nutmeg wouldn’t go amiss here too)
  9. Now you’re ready for construction! Get yourself a deep oven dish roughly the size of your lasagne sheets – I like glass so I can see the layers through the side, but ceramic would work just as well. (My lasagne sheets need soaking in cold water for 2 mins before using, so do that too if you need to)
  10. Spoon half the crushed squash and garlic into the bottom of the dish, smoothing out to an even layer. Top with a lasagne sheet. Then half the pesto, spreading it out to a fairly even layer. Then a lasagne sheet. Then half the mascapone spinach mixture, smoothing that out fairly flat and sprinkling with half the grated cheese. Then a lasagne sheet, press down gently and start all over again. Squash – pasta – pesto – pasta – mascapone + cheese – until you’ve finished everything up and ended with a layer of grated cheese on top.
  11. Stick in the oven for 40 mins until the pasta is silkily soft, the sides are bubbling enticingly, and the top is crusty and bronzed
  12. Leave to stand for 5 mins before eating if you can bear to, just to avoid burning your mouth.

If you want to make it in advance, you can make it earlier in the day all the way up to the final stint in the oven. Cover and keep in the fridge til you’re ready for it.

Chicken and leek pasta

~ Sophie ~ 1 Comment

Delicious, savoury, garlicky, lemony with sweetness from roasted leek. An excellent weeknight dinner, simple to make and tasty to eat. Feeds 2

  • 4 chicken thighs
  • 2 leeks, cut into 2cm pieces
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • Salt and pepper
  • 200g pasta shapes
  • ½ lemon, zest and juice
  • Parmesan
  1. Pre-heat oven to 190C fan (210C)
  2. Put the chicken thighs, leek pieces and whole, unpeeled garlic cloves into a roasting tin
  3. Drizzle over the oil, add salt and pepper and smush everything together to coat with oil and seasoning
  4. Shuffle everything out into a single layer and pop it in the oven for 30 mins
  5. Put a big pan of salted water on the hob to boil. Try to time it so the water comes to a boil as the roasting tin comes out of the oven
  6. Put the pasta in and bubble for 10-12 mins (or whatever the package says) until cooked – then drain and put back in the saucepan
  7. In the meantime, remove the leeks to a bowl on one side
  8. Remove the chicken from the tin onto a chopping board and slice into bite-sized pieces
  9. Squeeze the soft garlic out of its skin back into the roasting tin
  10. Scoop 60ml or so of boiling pasta water from the saucepan and use it to deglaze the roasting tin over a low heat, scraping the delicous brown from every corner and squishing the garlic into the mix as you do it
  11. Add the lemon juice and zest, stirring to combine
  12. Pour the glossy mix of lemon, garlic and chicken juice into the drained pasta, scraping with a spatula to catch every scrap
  13. Tip in the leeks and chicken and stir thoroughly to combine. Check the seasoning
  14. Serve hot with a drift of grated parmesan over the top