Pasta with tomato and baked beans sauce

When you have hungry, tired and a little poorly kids at home, a steaming bowl of pasta in tomato sauce might just make their day better. It worked in my house! There is something very comforting and summary in a pasta dish with the heady aroma of tomatoes and oregano. This is a vibrant dish and baked beans give it an extra depth of flavour. It’s a trusted recipe, one that I go back to all year round. Hope you’ll enjoy it too.

A packet of pasta

1 packet of smoked bacon, chopped

1 onion, sliced

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 carton of passata

1tsp sugar

1tsp dried oregano

1tsp paprika

1 tin of baked beans

1. Cook pasta according to the packet instructions. I used farfalle and wholewheat spirals.

2. Heat up the frying pan and add bacon. Fry on high heat until crisp.

3. Add the onion - at this stage you should have enough fat from the bacon to fry the onion until soft. If not, just add a tablespoon of olive oil.

4. Add garlic and fry for a minute or so. Make sure it doesn’t brown as it’ll make it taste bitter.

5. Add passata, sugar, oregano, paprika and a cup of water from the pasta pot. Cook for about 5 minutes until the sauce reduces slightly in volume.

6. Add baked beans and cook for a few more minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

7. Add pasta, mix well together and serve.

Pasta with green peas and bacon

I like pasta because it's tasty and QUICK. My husband laughs at me that my go-to dish is pesto pasta (it is...). He hates pesto...

Anyway... Pasta is the kind of food that is a life saver when you don’t have much time to cook but still want to eat something homemade. You can have a meal from scratch in 10 minutes - what’s not to like? Throw in a handful of veg/meat and you’re ready to go. Swap your pasta to the brown type and it’s even healthier (ok, it takes longer to cook so let’s say 20 minutes). Also, you can just make a basic tomato sauce, freeze it and next time it’s a ready, one pan meal. There are so many things you can do with pasta - possibilities are endless!

I must admit this was a leftover dinner. I was looking in the fridge for things that needed using, found an open packet of bacon, some Greek yoghurt and after digging in the freezer (I mean really digging - we have one of those freezers that open from the top so if you want to get anything out you have to pretend to be an archaeologist on a mission) I discovered half a packet of peas and an idea was born. Hope you enjoy this recipe!

1 pork stock cube

Half a packet of spaghetti 

1tbsp olive oil

Smoked bacon, chopped, 150g

Frozen peas 200g

2 tbsp Greek yoghurt

2 handfuls of grated mature cheddar

1. Cook pasta according to packet instructions. Add the stock cube to the boiling water.

2. Heat up the frying pan on the highest setting and, when really hot, add bacon and fry for a couple of minutes while stirring continuously.

3. Turn the heat down. Add olive oil. Fry the bacon until it’s just turning crisp.

4. By this time your pasta should be cooked al dente. Add it to the frying pan, together with some of the cooking water (Id say a cup) and mix with bacon. Add frozen peas and stir everything through. Keep the cooking water in case the sauce gets too thick. 

5. Add Greek yoghurt - do it carefully so it doesn’t split. I usually dollop it in one spot, wait until it warms through and then stir it in. 

6. Leave it to cook on low heat, checking it occasionally. If the sauce gets too thick add a bit more of cooking water. 

7. Plate up and sprinkle with grated Cheddar. Season with black pepper. You shouldn’t need to use salt as the cooking water would be quite salty thanks to the stock cube.

Tuna pasta with green peas

This is one of my last minute, raid your pantry/cupboard/fridge/freezer dishes - hungry kids and very little time to cook anything. I completely improvised here but, I must say, it tasted nice. The only thing I’d change is using frozen or fresh peas rather than tinned - I’m just not keen on the tinned ones but needs must and all that. 

A packet of pasta

A tin of tuna

A tin of garden peas

Olive oil

20g butter

1 shallot

1 garlic clove

Dried parsley

Dried basil

Salt and black pepper 

1. Heat up some oil in a pan and add butter. 

2. Slice the shallot and the garlic.

3. When the oil is hot add the shallot and the garlic clove and fry on medium heat until the shallot is translucent. Don’t let it crisp up. 

4. In the meantime, cook your pasta according to the packet instructions. 

5. Once the pasta is nicely al dente drain it saving up about a cupful of the cooking water. Add it all to the shallot and garlic. 

6. Add tuna and peas and mix it together until warmed through. Add parsley and basil. 

7. Season to taste. 

Enjoy!

Linguine with olive and tomato sauce

Sometimes my children will eat the weirdest things and sometimes I have to hide veg etc. in a sauce... And this is one of those "hidden" recipes... If you don't have fussy dinner companions you can cover this dish with extra olives, if you do - well... Just follow the steps.

A packet of linguine

1 tin of tomatoes

2 tbsp of tomato concentrate

A handful of green olives

1 packet of smoked bacon 

1 red onion

1 garlic clove

1 tsp dried oregano

2 tbsp Greek yoghurt

1 tsp sugar

2 tbsp of olive oil

Cheddar cheese to grate on top - as much as you want!

Black pepper to season

1. Cook the pasta following the instructions on the packet. 

2. After your pasta is cooked, keep a cup of leftover water so you can add it to the sauce later. 

3. Fry the bacon until slightly crisp. Add chopped up onion and the garlic clove and fry until the onion is translucent. 

4. In the meantime whizz up the tinned tomatoes, concentrate, olives, oregano, sugar, yoghurt and black pepper in a food processor to make a smooth sauce. Season to taste. 

5. Add sauce to bacon and cook on low heat for a few minutes. Add pasta and the cup of pasta water. 

6. Make sure that pasta is nicely coated with sauce and you're ready to serve. Top with Cheddar cheese, few more olives and black pepper. 

7. Enjoy!