To be honest I have nothing important to put here. However, I will share with you my favourite easy pasta recipe, because it's really, really easy, and delicious.
I make this whenever I can't be bothered cooking but don't want take-away. It doubles easily and the base recipe is kid-friendly (just leave out the pepper and add it to your own bowl at the end, if you like it). Plus, this is a great emergency meal because everything* except the cheese (and the optional onion & smallgoods) can reasonably be kept in the pantry until you need it.
EASY PASTA
Time: max 20 mins (less if you don't chop or grate anything)
Serves: 2 regular-level hungry people
Utensils
- medium saucepan with lid for cooking the sauce
- large saucepan with/without lid for making the pasta
- some kind of strainer for the pasta
- a cooking/stirring spoon, I like a wooden one but each to their own
- (optional for if you use onion/ham/smallgoods) Chopping board and knife for chopping (and knifing)
Ingedients
- 1 x 400g can diced/crushed tomatoes
- approx 1/2 cup grated/shredded cheddar cheese (or any hard cheese you like)**
- 250g pasta of your choice***
- 50ml or 3Tb cream*
- 1/2 tsp dried basil
- Salt and ground/cracked pepper to taste
- 1-2 tsp butter/margarine/non-dairy-butter-substitute or cooking oil (butter/Nuttelex is better, tbh)
*I use mini-cartons of lactose-free*** heat-treated shelf-safe cream, but any shelf-safe or leftover cream is fine, even sour cream, or about half as much milk will work too.
**Yeah, I usually use lactose-free cheese for this, but you don't gotta.
***Aaand I use gluten-free pasta, because my sweetheart can't process dairy or gluten. He is, however, otherwise wonderful.
(Optional)
- 1/2 onion, diced
- a few slices of pepperoni or ham or other cured smallgood type ham-like product (bacon or speck or whatever, just shred/slice/dice it up small)
- a dash of balsamic vinegar
Method
- Boil up a pot of water in your large saucepan, enough to cover your pasta.
- When the water is bubbling, heat your oil/butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high.
- When the butter is foaming/bubbly but not browned, or when your oil is hot enough that dropping in a bit of something (ham? onion? whatever) makes it sizzle:
- (optional) Add the diced onion & pepperoni/ham product and brown for 1-2 minutes.
- Tip in your can of tomatoes, the dried basil, and a splash of balsamic vinegar (if using), and give it a little stir to combine.
- Turn the heat down to low and cover your pot. You will want to let it cook for 10 minutes while you cook the pasta. You might want to stir it occassionally.
- As soon as you cover the sauce, drop your pasta into the (hopefully still bubbly) water. If it's spaghetti or fettuccini you might want to break it in half before throwing it in. In any case, give it a stir (those long pastas will need a lot of stirring to keep them from sticking, but even short pasta will need a little.) Most pasta takes about 10 minutes to cook (the same time as the sauce) and you can spend that time stirring occasionally/reading books on your phone. Maybe set a timer or you might forget.
- When the pasta is al dente (or a bit softer if you like it that way—take a piece out and bite it to see if it's a good firmness/softness for you) strain it and melt in a little more butter or sprinkle some oil over (stir either of these through to coat) to stop it from sticking together in a big lump.
- Remove lid from sauce and stir in cream, watching your sauce turn a lovely rose colour. Don't worry if the cream starts to seperate; it might get speckly but it will still taste fantastic.
- Taste, and then add salt and pepper as you like. If it seems a bit sharp, add some more cream. Go easy on the salt! You can't take it out if you over-salt it—you have to get creative if that happens, and this is supposed to be easy, remember?
- Add cheese and stir until it's smooth/a bit lumpy but the cheese is melted in.
- Tip the pasta back into the big saucepan and pour the sauce over, mixing it up nicely with a fork until the pasta is covered with sauce.
- You're done! Scoop your lovely pasta into bowls and serve. You can add cracked pepper or extra cheese or whatever you like.
You can try this with a handful of: shredded kale, brocolli florets, frozen peas, grated zucchini, whatever (fine cut) green vegetables you like. Just shove them in at the end of step 3. Or not. Up to you 😊