Tag Archive for 'pasta'

Quick Pasta

Published
by
Toasted Special
on April 18, 2009
in Kitchen and Mid-Week Meals
. 4 Comments

basil_1

I’ve been craving pasta lately. It must be from looking through the great pasta recipes on italian foodies recently. I’ve never thought of pasta as hangover food, but when I woke up just before noon today with “a bastard behind the eyes“, pasta was the only thing I contemplated making. Something rich and comforting…

This simple recipe relies very much on “store cupboard” ingredients. I fried some diced pancetta in a little oil until crispy. I then added a clove of garlic that was pounded with some sea salt using a mortar and pestle. (Pounding garlic with salt, rather than chopping it, makes a huge difference to food.) I added a small tub of double cream (about 200ml), a tablespoon of good pesto from a jar (for shame!) and a couple of handfuls of grated Parmesan cheese. I then added some hot pasta and a few grinds of black pepper.

I can think of few meals from my own repertoire that offer as great a reward for such little effort. Time spent? About 15 minutes from start to finish. The mind boggles as to why people buy this shit.

Spicy Sausage Pasta

Published
by
Toasted Special
on June 23, 2008
in Kitchen
. 0 Comments

My search for a good sausage & pasta recipe goes on. This recipe cooks the sausage first, less messy and a bit more natural than taking the skins off.

Ingredients

  • 6 lean pork sausages
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 400g canned tomatoes
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp chili flakes (less if you’re wimpish)
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • Enough pasta for 2 people (penne or fusili would be good)

Method

  1. Fry the sausages in half of the olive oil until lightly browned on all sides. Remove from the pan and slice into chunks.
  2. Slowly fry the onion and garlic in the rest of the olive oil until it begins to colour.
  3. Add the tomatoes, cooked sausages, chili flakes and oregano and simmer for 10 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper.
  4. Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet and add to the sauce.
  5. Add some grated parmesan if you like.

Serves 2.