Vegan spinach, garlic and basil ‘butter’ spaghetti + #recipeoftheweek (27 April – 3 May)

27 April, 2013 By 6 Comments

Vegan spinach, basil and garlic spaghetti

Mmm, good, nice, mmm – Miss J, 18 months

I like this recipe for many reasons. It’s tasty. It’s filling. And it only needs two pans to make. Oh, and it’s vegan, although the kids had theirs with cheese on top.

Here’s what to do – serves 4-6.

Ingredients

  • 500g dried spaghetti
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 250g baby spinach
  • 1 courgette
  • 1 handful of fresh basil
  • 8 cherry tomatoes
  • 4 tbsp of vegan margarine
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Put the oil, crushed/finely chopped garlic and finely diced courgette in a large frying pan and warm over a medium heat
  2. Meanwhile, put the pasta on to cook in large saucepan with plenty of boiling water
  3. Add the spinach and chopped tomatoes to the frying pan and heat until the spinach is wilted
  4. By this time, the pasta should have been cooking for about 8 minutes
  5. Lift the pasta out of the water and into the frying pan, then transfer about 2 cups of the starch water across too
  6. Add the margarine, bring up to a simmer, stirring occasionally for 2-4 more minutes (add another cup of liquid or two if needed while cooking)
  7. When the pasta is cooked and the liquid has gone, stir in the fresh basil, season to taste and serve

Finishing the pasta in the pan means it creates a lovely, buttery, garlicy sauce and soaks up every last bit of the vegetable goodness. I got the idea from an episode of New Zealand Master Chef, where they made a chilli seafood pasta this way.

Let me know if you try it :)

Add your #recipeoftheweek

Do you have a recipe to share? Here’s the place you can do it! Pick one from the past week, or any time at all. Meaty, vegan, fatty, low-calorie – all recipes are welcome, just as long as you haven’t linked them up to #recipeoftheweek before.

You share the goods, then I generally go round reading, commenting, Stumbling, Pinning and drooling over everyone’s entries. It’s that simple. So just link up below and let’s share the love.

  1. Link up your post using the Linky tool below
  2. Add the “Recipe of the Week” badge to your post so that readers can find other great recipes.
  3. Take a little time to read and comment on each other’s recipes.
  4. Come back next Saturday and we’ll do it all over again.

Enjoy!

Link up your recipe of the week
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Roasted garlic and tomato pasta with garlic panini (recipe)

13 March, 2013 By 4 Comments

Roasted-garlic-and-tomato-pasta-with-garlic-panini

Delicious. The leaves taste really sweet – JD, 5

I’m trying to get back into cooking creatively after spending a couple of weeks being too tired to do much other than opt for tried and tested favourites.

Yesterday, we put our thinking caps on and came up with this simple but delicious family dish – a pasta classic of sorts, but a first for us.

Here’s what to do to make our roasted garlic and tomato pasta with garlic panini- it feeds four.

Ingredients

For the pasta:

  • 1kg vine ripened tomatoes
  • 1/2 large bulb of garlic
  • 4-5 tbsp olive oil
  • salt and pepper, as desired
  • 500g fresh egg spaghetti
  • a few fresh basil leaves

For the garlic panini:

  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 panini

Instructions

  1. Quarter the tomatoes
  2. Bash the garlic cloves a little but leave the skins on
  3. Put the garlic and tomatoes in a roasting tin and cover with the oil and seasoning
  4. Bake at 200C (180C fan assisted) for 30 minutes
  5. Remove from the oven and squeeze the garlic out of their skins, discarding any that look burned
  6. Tip all the tomatoes and garlic into a pan and whiz with a stick blender
  7. To make the garlic panini, crush the garlic and mix with the oil
  8. Slice the panini open and spread with the mixture, then cook in the oven for a couple of minute until crisp
  9. Sprinkle with sea salt if desired, then cut each piece diagonally to create four servings
  10. Boil the fresh pasta in plenty of salted water for a few minutes, then drain and stir into the sauce
  11. Serve twisted in the centre of each plate, with a couple of basil leaves on top, and the garlic panini to the side

Sprinkle with parmesan or add extra seasoning, if desired, but it’s yummy without. Easy peasy.

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One pot 12-minute veggie pasta – little washing up, lots of goodness (recipe)

30 January, 2013 By 2 Comments

One pot veggie pasta - cook everything in one pan!

It’s quite healthy looking – JD, 5

Despite my obvious love of cooking, I’m not always in the mood to cook up a storm. Some days, I just want to sit down and chill out but there’s a family meal to prepare and washing up to be done and felt tip to scrub off the doors.

This family recipe is for those days – it all cooks in one pot and contains carbs, protein and plenty of veg, so you don’t even have to feel guilty as you get put your feet up or spend time with the kids.

Here’s what to do to feed four…

Ingredients

  • 4 carrots
  • 400g pasta
  • 8 small or 4 large broccoli florets
  • 1 vegetable stock cube
  • 8 Tivali vegetarian hotdogs
  • 100g grated cheese

Instructions

  1. Put a big pan of boiling water over a high heat
  2. Peel and dice the carrots and chuck them in with the pasta and the stock cube
  3. After 5 minutes, chuck in your frozen broccoli florets and put the lid on til it comes back up the boil
  4. After about 3 more minutes, rinse the hotdogs under a running tap (they’re oiled) then chop into quarters and chuck into the pan
  5. After 3 minutes, check that everything’s cooked, then drain
  6. Serve topped with grated cheese

And that’s it! The only complication is making sure you put the veggies in at the right time so that they don’t go soggy.

Enjoy!

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Pasta alla genovese (recipe)

23 January, 2013 By 4 Comments

pasta-alla-genovese

Can I weigh the peas? – JD, 5

You may have noticed I’m posting a lot of evening family meal recipes this week…yep, you’ve rumbled me, I have been drawn in by the hype and started meal planning. On Sunday, I planned and shopped for the whole week ahead. It was immediately clear how much money it would save us by only ordering what we’d need, so I think I’m hooked.

Today’s recipe is another super quick family meal – it’s fresh tasting (thanks to the peas and pesto) and very warming (thanks to the pasta and potatoes). Ready in just 20 minutes, this recipe feeds four.

Ingredients

  • 300g pasta
  • 300g baby new potatoes
  • 150g frozen petis pois
  • 190g jar of of green pesto
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • few shavings of grana padano cheese, parmesan, or a veggie hard cheese alternative

Instructions

  1. Halve the new potatoes, put in a pan and cover with cold water
  2. Bring to the boil then cover and simmer for 20 minutes
  3. Half way into the cooking time, put another pan of boiling water on and add the pasta
  4. 5 minutes before the end of the cooking time, add the peas to the pasta water
  5. Drain everything, crush the potatoes a little, then stir together
  6. Stir in the pesto, dish up and drizzle with the olive oil
  7. Top with a few shavings of cheese and serve with a fresh mixed salad

This was a big hit and really filling – definitely one we’ll be making again, particularly as it needs so little work and tastes great.

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Creamy green veg pasta (family recipe)

21 January, 2013 By 5 Comments

creamy-green-veg-pasta

What are these green pieces? What about these ones? And these ones? – JD, 5 (as he ate it all)

Happy Monday! I’m sharing this creamy pasta dish today because it’s great for busy families – the sauce is done in the time it takes to boil the pasta (no need to prepare a roux), and it gets three different types of green veg into even the fussiest of families, all wrapped up in a garlicy, creamy sauce.

Here’s what to do. This recipe feeds 4 with maybe a little left to take to work the next day.

Ingredients

  • 125g tenderstem broccoli
  • 80g green beans
  • 80g asparagus
  • 30g butter
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1tsp mild chilli powder
  • 1tsp oregano
  • 300g philly light (or any light cream cheese)
  • 500ml whole milk
  • good pinch black pepper
  • 400g dried farfalle (pasta bows)

Instructions

  1. Put the pasta on to boil
  2. Trim the broccoli to about 2 inch stems
  3. Top and tail the green beans and inch pieces
  4. Trim the asparagus and cut into inch pieces
  5. Warm the oil and butter in a large pan
  6. Chuck in the veg, fry for a minute
  7. Add the finely chopped garlic, fry for another couple of minute
  8. Add the milk and cream cheese – if you’re not veggie, you could add a bit of chopped ham at this stage too
  9. Stir over the heat until smooth, then add the chilli powder, oregano and black pepper.
  10. Season further if desired – I kept  it child-friendly, then added extra chilli and pepper at the end, just for the grown ups
  11. Leave it on low to simmer gently – don’t let it boil or it may split
  12. When the pasta is boiled, drain and stir through the sauce

Serve with a fresh salad – and maybe some garlic bread if you’re feeling particularly hungry

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Fresh strozzapreti pesto pasta with roast sweet potato and butternut squash (recipe)

13 January, 2013 By 2 Comments

Fresh strozzapreti pesto pasta with roast sweet potato and butternut squash

Oooooooooh – Miss J, 1

Whenever we go to the supermarket, I always make a beeline for the fresh egg pasta. It just tastes so much better and less rubbery than most dried varieties and cooks in a fraction of the time.

On sale this week was some beautiful strozzapreti, which works great with chunky vegetable and tomato sauces, but is equally lovely with pesto because it really holds on to the sauce without getting sticky or stodgy.

Reaching the vegetable aisle, I chucked in some fresh basil for the pesto and grabbed some roast sweet potato and butternut squash, intending to make a mash for another night, but the greens and oranges looked so lovely together, a meal that combined them all just had to be made.

This dish works well because of the warmth of the pasta, the fresh and aromatic kick of the pesto and the sweetness and saltiness of the roast veg. Lovely winter food.

Here’s how to make four rather generous portions or six smaller ones…

Ingredients

For the roast veg:

  • 300g sweet potato
  • 200g butternut squash
  • Sea salt and cracked black pepper
  • 2 tbsp olive oil

For the pesto:

  • 35g parmesan (we use a veggie version that isn’t officially parmesan but tastes very similar)
  • 50g toasted pine nuts
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 60g fresh basil (washed)
  • 5 tbsp olive oil
  • sea salt and cracked black pepper

For the pasta

  • 500g fresh egg strozzapreti pasta
  • pinch sea salt

Instructions

  1. Put the oil a large roasting dish
  2. Peel and de-seed veg, chop into 2 cm slices and then roughly chop into pieces
  3. Spread the veg evenly in the dish and season generously with sea salt and cracked black pepper
  4. Roast at 200C for 20-25 mins until soft and browned at the edges
  5. Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan until lightly browned – don’t burn them1
  6. Finely grate the cheese
  7. Tip about half the cheese, three quarters of the pine nuts and all the other pesto ingredients into a food processor
  8. Blitz, then stir in the remaining cheese and nuts and season to taste
  9. Boil the pasta for about 4 minutes
  10. Stir in the pesto and plate up
  11. Stack the roast veg on top and serve while still warm

Enjoy!

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Broccoli cheese pasta (recipe)

2 January, 2013 By 7 Comments

Broccoli cheese pasta

I could manage some more, please – JD, 5

Here’s a lovely family recipe for broccoli cheese pasta. It’s really easy to make and uses semi-skimmed milk and light soft cheese to keep the fat content to a minimum.

The fresh broccoli and creaminess of the sauce should appeal to kids and there’s just enough mustard, chilli and pepper to give it a slight kick without being too much for little tastebuds to handle.

Here’s what to do – this recipe feeds four.

Ingredients

  • 400g fresh broccoli florets
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 2 tbsp plain flour
  • 800ml semi-skimmed milk
  • 1 tsp mustard seeds
  • pinch sea salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 400g light Philadelphia
  • 1.5 tsp mild chili powder
  • 500g fresh egg pasta (I cut lasagne sheets into wide strips)

Instructions

  1. Boil the broccoli until just cooked (not overly soft), then drain
  2. When cool, chop roughly into inch pieces and set aside
  3. In a pestle and mortar, crush the mustard with the salt, pepper, chilli
  4. Warm the oil over a medium heat, then stir in the flour
  5. Slowly add the milk bit by bit, ensuring it’s fully combined before adding the next bit of milk
  6. Stir in the cream cheese, mustard, chilli, salt and pepper and heat gently, stirring occassionally until it’s cooked through (you might want to add the spices bit by bit, testing as you go to make sure it’s not too hot for your/your little ones’ tastes)
  7. Add the broccoli and stir through
  8. Boil the pasta for around 5 minutes until al dente, then drain and plate
  9. Spoon over the sauce and serve hot

The spices give the sauce a lovely speckled effect and the broccoli holds the sauce perfectly.

broccoli cheese sauce

Enjoy!

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Roast vegetable pesto pasta salad

6 August, 2012 By 5 Comments

I love pepper – JD, 4

The lovely folk at Morrisons set me a challenge this week: could I make enough delicious pasta salad to feed a family of 4-6, using only M Savers products?

The answer? Yes, yes I could. Actually, the whole lot only cost £1.32. Here’s what we did…

Ingredients

  • 300g M Savers Pasta Twists
  • 1 M Savers Courgette
  • 1 large M Savers Red Pepper
  • Dash of olive oil
  • 2 tbsp of M Savers Green Pesto
  • Juice of 1/2 M Savers Lemon

Instructions

  1. Cut the courgette lengthways into quarters, then chop in 1cm pieces
  2. Roughly chop the pepper into similar size pieces
  3. Put the courgette and pepper into roasting tray, toss in the oil and bake at 200C (180C fan oven) for 10 minutes
  4. Meanwhile, cool the pasta until al dente
  5. Drain the pasta and mix with the pesto, lemon juice and roast vegetable
  6. Allow to cool before storing in the fridge until ready to serve

Disclosure: Morrisons sent me a £10 voucher to buy the ingredients for their recipe. No payment was otherwise received and all posts are 100% honest.

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Tagliatelle with vegetarian meatballs in a vegetable sauce (recipe)

16 June, 2012 By 7 Comments

Ooh, vegetarian meatballs. I prefer vegetarian ones – JD, 4

This is what we had for dinner this evening. It’s been a while since we had meatballs. Why? Well mainly because I’m vegetarian, secondly because I can’t abide Quorn and thirdly because the only soya-based meatballs I’ve ever liked are sold by the supermarket whose name we do not speak.

The vegetarian freezer section in ASDA took on a heavenly glow today, though, as I discovered they sell their own brand of soya meatballs and soya mince – huzzah! We bought a few packets of each – y’know, in case of the apocalypse – and headed home in triumph.

So this evening’s recipe is a simple one: tagliatelle with vegetarian meatballs in a tomato, garlic and vegetable sauce, finished with fresh basil.

Here’s how.

Ingredients (feeds four)

  • 1/2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 yellow peppers
  • 1 large courgette
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 2 tins of chopped tomatoes
  • 1 pack of ASDA Meat Free Meat Balls
  • Pinch of nutmeg
  • 20g bunch of fresh basil
  • 300g dried tagliatelle

Instructions

  1. Put the meatballs on a baking tray and cook for 10 minutes at 160C
  2. Meanwhile, de-seed the peppers and roughly chop into inch pieces
  3. Halve the courgette and cut into roughly half-inch slices
  4. Warm the olive oil in a pan and fry the veg until softening
  5. Finely chop the garlic and add to the pan, along with the meatballs
  6. Fry for a minute or two then add the tomatoes
  7. Add a pinch of nutmeg, bring up to the boil then leave to simmer
  8. Boil the pasta
  9. Just before plating up, add a good covering of fresh basil to the sauce and stir in
  10. Save a few leaves so that you can serve with a little fresh basil on the top
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