Creamy Bacon and Pea Pasta

I actually have an alternative version of this where I make a bright-green pea puree, but I didn't have enough peas or cream for that this week.

Here's what I came up with instead:

Ingredients:

1/2 brown onion

1 tbsp oil

3 rashers of bacon 

Small glass of white wine

200ml single cream

2 eggs

300g tagliatelle

150g frozen petit pois

Serves 6

Method:

1) Pre-heat the oven to 180 deg C, and cook the bacon for 20 mins (I like it crispy)

2) Heat the oil in a large saucepan and chop the onion up small

3) Fry the onion for 5 mins on low heat, then add the wine and turn the heat up to medium for 5 mins, then just keep the pan warm on a low heat

4) Boil the water for the pasta, and cook it (fresh - 4 mins, dry - 12 mins)

5) Whisk the eggs and cream together in a jug

6) Cook the peas in the microwave/ on the hob for 5 mins, then drain

7) Drain the pasta, and tip into a cold serving dish

8) Chop up the bacon and tip on top of the pasta

9) Add the peas

10) Pour the eggy cream over the top, and stir round (carefully!) 

Budget:

Pasta = 50p

Onion = 10p

Oil = 2p
Bacon = 60p
Cream = £1
Eggs = 40p
Wine = 40p
Peas = 30p
Total = £3.32, 55p/ person

Spaghetti Carbonara

So simple (and delicious!), this is now firmly on my family's 'favourites' list. Plus it uses only a few core ingredients that I normally have in the fridge!

I actually used tagliatelle, not spaghetti - but sssh, no one'll notice

Ingredients:

250g pasta (ideally a long thin one like spaghetti or tagliatelle, but not essential)

300ml single/ whipping cream

2 eggs

Nutmeg (optional)

Black pepper

3 rashers of bacon, or lardons, or combination

Serves 6

Method:

1) Pre-heat the oven to 180 deg C, and cook the bacon in the middle of the oven for about 20 mins

2) While the bacon is cooking, boil water for the pasta

3) Crack the eggs into a medium-sized bowl/ jug, and whisk lightly with a fork

4) Pour the cream into the jug, and continue to whisk

5) Cook the pasta (fresh - 4 mins, dried - 12 mins)

6) Add the pepper and nutmeg to the eggy cream

7) Remove the bacon from the oven, blot with kitchen paper and cut into small chunks. Leave to cool

8) Drain the pasta and put into the (cold) serving dish. Leave to cool for 3-5 mins. We're trying to avoid scrambled egg!

9) Slowly pour the eggy cream onto the pasta, and stir the pasta to coat the strands

10) Add the bacon chunks

Budget:

Pasta = 50p

Cream = £1

Eggs = 40p

Spices = 5p

Bacon = 60p

Total = £2.55, 43p/ person

Chicken Vegetable Pasta Bake

A tasty variation on my sausage vegetable pasta bake.

As you can see, I've used carrots, yellow pepper, broccoli, red onion and tomato as well as chicken that was leftover from the night before. 

Serves 6

Same process as before - I pre-cooked the pasta, prepped the veg and started layering. There was an offer on jars of pasta bake sauce, so I've used that and tinned tomatoes to make my sauce. 

Layer 1 - pasta

Layer 2 - tomato sauce

Layer 3 - vegetables

Layer 4 - chicken

Layer 5 - vegetables and tomato sauce

Finished off by stirring (carefully!) before cooking in the oven at 180 deg C for 40 mins.

Budget:

Pasta = 35p

Tomato sauce = £1.20
Vegetables = £1.20
Chicken = £3

Total =  £5.75, 96p/ person

Sausage Vegetable Pasta Bake

Back from sunny Italy now - at least it's still warm here so the cultural shock's not too much!

I've been busy since we got back, but I've also been suffering a bit from writer's block - so I'm turning to a family favourite to get things restarted. Here it is - a tomato-y pasta bake.

Half-eaten (and scraped clean!) 

Ingredients:
250g pasta (I like fusilli because it holds the sauce well)
800g of tomato-based products (I like half/ half passata and tinned chopped tomatoes)
8-12 leftover (i.e. pre-cooked) sausages (feel free to economise the more vegetables you add)
Many vegetables - I used carrots, peas and sweetcorn here because that's all we had left, but I'd recommend broccoli (cauliflower too if you're into that), peppers, mini corn, beans etc.

Serves 6-8

Method:
1) If your sausages aren't being used up from another meal, you need to cook them first (180 deg C, about half an hour). Skip this step and go to 2) if they are
2) Boil water for pasta, then start cooking the pasta. Pre-heat oven to 180 deg C
3) Prep the veg (if they're frozen, don't bother defrosting them first but just get them out the freezer)
4) Chop the sausages into slices
5) Pasta should be done by now (about 12 mins) so drain it but keep the cloudy water for later
6) Take a large dish and tip the pasta in to make the bottom layer. (I normally discover I've made too much at this point, but then it just becomes tomorrow's lunch)
7) Tip in half the tomato stuff and stir the dish contents to coat the pasta. To speed the cooking time up, you could heat the tomatoes on the stove until it's bubbling before doing this
8) Now add the sausages
9) And finally the veg
10) Add the rest of the tomato stuff and stir (carefully! It might be a bit overflowing by now). Add a splash of the pasta water if there's not enough and stir in
11) Cook in the oven for about 30-40 mins (about 45-50 if you didn't heat the sausages first)

Budget:
Pasta = 35p
Tomato stuff = 90p
Sausages = £1.50
Veg = £1.20
Total = £3.95, 60p/ person

*Heats up well the next day for a hearty lunch

Variations

 - Take out the sausages and replace with more vegetables for the vegetarian version

- Also great with a couple of tins of tuna instead of the meat

Spaghetti Bolognese (Spag Bog)

For some as-yet-undetermined reason, what the rest of the world shortens to 'spag bol', my family calls 'spag bog'. Fans of UK slang will understand why this is funny...

Second time round, I added courgette and some leftover mini corn...yum

There are a lot of recipes out there claiming to be the 'best' bolognese recipe, or that 'true' bolognese contains white wine, not red, etc. etc. Now, I don't know much about that. But what I do know is that bolognese is delicious. And great for making in a large batch and then freezing portions. I'm always flexible on the vegetable choice and tend to use up whatever I have left.

Ingredients:
1tbsp oil (olive is best but not compulsory)
1 medium brown onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
500g beef mince
2 tins of tomatoes
Vegetables e.g. 3 chopped carrots, handful of mushrooms, handful of peas, 1 red/ orange/ green pepper, 2 celery sticks
1 pint of stock (beef or vegetable)
300g dried spaghetti/ other pasta

Optional extras:
4 rashers of streaky bacon, cooked and chopped up
1 glass of wine
Extra cherry tomatoes
1tbsp tomato puree
Herbs - basil, oregano, rosemary, mixed herbs
Parmesan gratings to finish

Serves 4-5

Method:
1) Heat the oil in a very large casserole dish or saucepan
2) Add the chopped onion and fry gently for 7 mins
3) Add the garlic and cook for 1 min
4) Tip in the mince, stir and cook - it will start to turn brown, then release water which you want to burn off. When the water and liquid is gone you will be left with the meat/onion/garlic mixture (add wine now if using, and boil off the ethanol). Boil the kettle to make the stock (fry the bacon if using)
5) Add the tinned tomatoes (and tomato puree if using)
6) Add all the vegetables (and cherry tomatoes and bacon if using)
7) Add the stock (and herbs if using)
8) Heat on the stove until it bubbles in the middle. I like to transfer it to the oven for about 45 mins at 150 deg C (make sure to check the liquid levels and add more stock if it is looking dry), but you can just leave it on low heat on the stove for about 30 mins
9) 15 mins before finishing, start boiling the water for the spaghetti. Cook the pasta for about 12 mins (see packet), then drain and serve

Budget:
Beef = £4 (less if you buy it on offer, e.g. 3 for £10)
Onion = 10p
Oil = 3p
Garlic = 5p
Tomatoes = 70p
Stock = 10p
Vegetables (depends on what you use) = 40p ish
Spaghetti = 60p
Total = £6, £1.20/ person

Homemade Pesto

I can't believe I've only just discovered how great pesto is - it makes even the most boring pasta dishes exciting. This recipe is inspired by Delia's but I didn't have much luck weighing basil leaves. I tweaked the quantities, and substituted cheddar for the pecorino (I know, sorry) which worked surprisingly well.

Ingredients:
As many basil leaves as you can get hold of/ approx. 1 handful
2 garlic cloves (I love garlic, but if you're less worried about warding off vampires then 1 clove is fine)
2tbsp pine nuts
4tbsp olive oil
Some grated cheese (ideally pecorino romano, but cheddar worked)

Serves 3-4 on pasta

Method:
1) Tip everything except the cheese into a blender and whizz it up until there are only small bits of basil leaf left (add extra oil if necessary to make it go further)
2) Transfer to another dish and stir in the cheese

Budget:
Basil = £1
Garlic = 6p
Pine nuts = 40p
Oil = 3p
Cheese = 30p
Total = £1.79, 45p/ person

Roast Vegetable Pasta

Great for when you feel like pasta but don't have any tinned tomatoes left - a colourful dish that works in summer and winter! I like it with root vegetables in autumn.

Ingredients:
50g pasta (spaghetti/ those twirly ones/ etc. all fine) per person - the packets typically recommend 70g/ person but I have never met anyone able to eat that much pasta in one sitting
Oil for roasting
1 carrot/ person
1 parsnip/ person
2 cloves of garlic/ person (leave the papery skin on)
1tbsp creme fraiche/ soft cheese per person
Optional - 1/2 red pepper/ person
Optional - 1/4 onion (red or brown)/ person

Method:
1) Peel and chop the root veg into chunks about 3cm long
2) Set the oven to 180 deg C and roast the veg and garlic in the oil for about 45 mins, until soft
3) After 30 mins, boil the water and tip in the pasta, cooking for about 12 mins (see packet for details)
4) Drain the pasta, take the veg and garlic out of the oven and tip into the pasta saucepan (you might want to take out some of the oil if there's loads)
5) Stir in the creme fraiche/ soft cheese - you might need to heat the saucepan a bit until it all melts nicely
6) Serve!

Budget:
Pasta - 3p
Oil - 2p
Carrot - 7p
Parsnip - 10p
Garlic - 5p
Creme fraiche - 10p
Total = 37p/ person

Fail-safe Tomato Sauce

One of my freezer staples - I'll make a big batch and freeze it in portions to whip out when I get back from the lab and am too tired for anything more challenging than reheating this, and cooking pasta!

It's really flexible - use up whatever veg you have left at the back of the fridge or freezer - and is a great way to get in several of your 5-a-day.

For a change, I won't list ingredients but instead suggestions of things to include. The only compulsory component is the tomatoes.

Makes 4-5 portions

Method:
1) If adding onion and/ or garlic and/ or celery, put 1tbsp of oil in the bottom of a large saucepan and fry gently for around 8 mins
2) Add the 2 tins of chopped tomatoes
3) Add everything else:
        Fresh veg - carrots, broccoli, mange tout/ sugar snaps, mini corn, bell pepper, celery,                         mushrooms
        Frozen veg - peas, sweetcorn, broccoli
        Meat - cooked bacon, leftover cooked sausages
4) Heat until the liquid in the centre is bubbling
5) Done - use straightaway or leave to cool

Budget:
Obviously the final cost depends on what you put in.
2 tins tomatoes = 62p