Tomato, Basil and Pesto Pasta.
(just add water!)
- Serves 2 or 3 - Ready in 20 minutes -
Gather together...
1 tub of cherry tomatoes (cut into quarters).
1 onion, thinly sliced (to save time day-to-day, I keep a big box of onions I've chopped ahead-of-time, in the freezer, so I throw in 2 handfuls of those).
½ packet of wholewheat linguine or wholewheat spaghetti, snapped in 1/2 by hand so it fits into the pan, (linguine holds the sauce better).
2 big handfuls of Basil leaves, torn up (I grow / buy herbs in bulk and then chop and freeze them, so they are ready to use quickly in recipes) - or use 2 big handfuls of baby Spinach leaves, fresh or frozen.
1 garlic clove (peeled and finely chopped) or 2 tsp lazy garlic.
1 tbsp rapeseed oil or olive oil (to stop the pasta sticking together).
Pinch of salt (optional).
Pinch of ground pepper.
Serve with...
2 tbsp pesto per person.
2 - 3 handfuls of finely grated cheese of your choice.
Get cooking...
1. Boil a full kettle of water.
2. Put all of the ingredients (except for the pesto and the finely grated cheese) into a big (3 - 5 litre) saucepan, ideally with an Ikea STABIL insert in as it stops ingredients burning on the base of the pan - meaning you can ignore the pot for the entire recipe, and means you can drain the water away easily at the end.
3. Add boiling water, so that the ingredients are just covered (the pot will need to be about half full of water - you may need to re-boil the kettle as the big Ikea STABIL insert pan is large and requires plenty of water!).
4. On the hob, bring the pot to a boil and cook for 12 – 15 min until the pasta is done. If you are using a regular saucepan, stir every couple of minutes to avoid the ingredients sticking to the base of the pan. If you are using an Ikea STABIL insert then just stir once at the beginning to separate the pasta strands, then leave the pan to it.
5. Once the pasta is cooked, turn off the heat and strain very well (or the sauce will be watery). Tip the pasta/veg into a colander held over the sink - (or use the Ikea insert).
6. Put the pasta/veg into the serving dishes. Stir the pesto through (2 tbsp of pesto per person) and top with the 2 - 3 handfuls of finely grated cheese. Enjoy!
Mushroom and Spinach Cheesy Pasta.
(just add water!)
- Serves 2 or 3 - Ready in 20 minutes -
Gather together...
2 handfuls of mushrooms, thinly sliced.
1 onion, thinly sliced (to save time day-to-day, I keep a big box of onions I've chopped ahead-of-time, in the freezer, so I throw in 2 handfuls of those).
½ packet of wholewheat linguine or wholewheat spaghetti, snapped in 1/2 by hand so it fits into the pan, (linguine holds the sauce better).
4 big handfuls of baby Spinach leaves.
1 garlic clove (peeled and finely chopped) or 2 tsp lazy garlic.
1 tbsp rapeseed oil or olive oil (to stop the pasta sticking together).
Pinch of ground pepper.
Pinch of salt (optional).
Serve with...
1 tub of soft cream cheese e.g. Philadelphia (or the supermarket own brand works fine).
Get cooking...
1. Boil a full kettle of water.
2. Put all of the ingredients (except for the cream cheese!) into a big (3 - 5 litre) saucepan, ideally with an Ikea STABIL insert in as it stops ingredients burning on the base of the pan - meaning you can ignore the pot for the entire recipe, and means you can drain the water away easily at the end.
3. Add boiling water so that the ingredients are covered (the pot will need to be about half full of water - you may need to re-boil the kettle as the big Ikea STABIL insert pan is large and requires plenty of water!).
4. On the hob, bring the pot to a boil and cook for 12 – 15 min until the pasta is done. If you are using a regular saucepan, stir every couple of minutes to avoid the ingredients sticking to the base of the pan. If you are using the Ikea insert then just stir once at the beginning to separate the pasta strands, then leave the pan to it.
5. Once the pasta is cooked, turn off the heat and strain but not too well as watery pasta means more sauce! Tip the pasta into a colander held over the sink - (or use the Ikea pot insert).
6. To the drained pot, add the tub of cream cheese and mix lightly until it is smooth.
7. Serve.
I adapted the recipe from https://web.kidsactivitiesblog.com/57022/one-pot-pasta-recipes (sadly the link no longer seems to work)- what a genius idea to boil everything up in one pot! Martha Stewart also does this, but I didn't have enough time to keep stirring as her recipe requires. If the above one-pot pasta recipes are made with an Ikea STABIL insert-pan then they can be ignored for the 15 minutes that they are cooking, as the food will not touch the base of the pan.
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