Tomato, mozzarella and courgette pasta

Turkey and Mushroom Creamy Pasta

Basil and almond pesto pasta

Bacon, Mozzarella and Basil Pasta Bake

Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese

Meaty Bolognese

Aubergine pasta bake

 

Aubergine pasta bake

Hotdog pasta

Hotdog pasta with carrots and green peppers

Lasagne

Very cheesy Lasagne

Pea, Pancetta and Applewood Spaghetti

Pea, Pancetta and Applewood Spaghetti

The door bell rings and I find a chap complaining to me about a roundabout a couple of miles up the road. I guess it's his way of saying, “Sorry, I'm late”. However, I'm a forgiving sort of person especially when I see he has a hamper of extremely nice goodies from Applewood Cheese.

I've been a fan of Applewood Cheddar for some years and now it is available in a spreadable version. In order to spread the word (see what I've done there?!). Applewood have been asking bloggers to conjure up recipes using some of the products as inspiration. So this is a simple and filling pasta dish which is quick to make. Perfect for when you are in a hurry because your delivery driver turns up late.

Serves 4

Ingredients

1tsp (5ml) Olive oil

1 Onion, chopped

100g Pancetta

150g Fresh peas

500g Fresh Spaghetti

4 tbsp (60ml) Applewood Spreadable

Method

1. Put the olive oil in a large frying pan and sauté the onions and pancetta until the onion starts to soften.

2. Add the peas and continue cooking for a couple of minutes on a low heat.

3. Meanwhile cook the spaghetti in boiling water. It should only take about four minutes.

4. Add the Applewood Spreadable with 4 tbsp (60ml) of the spaghetti cooking water to the pea and pancetta mix. Stir well.

5. Drain the spaghetti and stir through the Applewood pea and pancetta mixture.

6. Serve immediately – it will go cold quick!

Substitutions

I used the produce that was sent to me but here are some alternatives:

Replace the olive oil for vegetable or sunflower oil.

Instead of pancetta use lardons or dice some thick bacon. Cooking bacon works well for this.

Use dried spaghetti or other pasta of your choice. Dried takes longer to cook so put it on to cook at the beginning.

Applewood sent me the items for free. No payment was made for this post. Recipe, photos and words are my own.

Two mixes, three meals - What's For Dinner? Schwartz '2in1' Review

We may be a little old-fashioned at JibberJibber Towers but always on a Sunday we have a roast. Lately, however I have relaxed the insistence on the wearing of ties for the gentlemen and pearls for the ladies. Quite often though it can be hard to get some variety into the roast dinners so it was a welcome relief to be sent some new Schwartz 2in1 Recipe Mixes to try out.

First up was the Garlic and Thyme Roast Chicken + Crispy Roast Potatoes. We usually either put the whole chicken in the oven as it is or sprinkle a stock cube over the top and let the heat do the rest of the hard work. With this mix you need to score the chicken first and then combine the sachet contents with oil and brush it over. 

Mix brushed on the chicken and ready for the oven

To stop the mix getting completely crozzled you need to cover it with foil. While it's cooking you need to prepare the potatoes by cutting to size and par-boiling before placing in a pre-heated roasting dish and then sprinkling over the crispy mix. You then take the foil off the chicken and cook both for 45 minutes or until the juices of the chicken run clear. Quite simply really as any roast dinner involves a bit of jigging about with timings and things coming in and out of the oven.

Garlic & Thyme Roast Chicken all cooked

The most important thing is of course how did it taste? The chicken was nice and the coating did add an extra element to it but only if you ate the skin which some people avoid (not us). The potatoes were described by my husband as, “Nice...really nice,” and he did say he preferred the potato coating to the chicken one. My son gave his verdict by clearing his plate in record speed. Would I buy it myself? Certainly not as an every week purchase as I consider it something of an extravagance and it didn't blow my taste buds enough to make me fall in love with it. However, if you are having guests round for dinner, got in a panic and wanted a fail-proof way making chicken and potatoes a little different then this is worth a punt.

Chicken and potatoes waiting to be plated

One of the reasons we like a roast on a Sunday is that often there is quite a bit of meat leftover for another meal. On the Monday evening I did the shopping so needed something quick to make. I bought a packet of ready-rolled puff pastry and laid it out on a lined baking tray and folded in the edges. I pricked it all over and then cooked it for 10 minutes at 200°C. Once it was out I stabbed it a couple of times with a fork as it puffs up a bit. Spread it with a 200g tub of crème fraîche and then cover it with the leftover chicken. On one half I added mushrooms that needed using up and the other half had frozen sweetcorn (all tastes catered for). A handful of grated cheese and snipped chives from the garden finishes off the topping. Cook for another 10 minutes. Slice and eat.

Leftover Chicken Slice - half with sweetcorn, half with mushrooms

So two meals in the week down and it was on to Pasta Tuesday. This is so-called because my Daughter goes swimming on a Tuesday and requires large amounts of carbohydrates to re-fuel. The next mix was rather conveniently Mediterranean Chicken Pasta +Cheesy Crumb Topping. Having chicken again for a third day would have been a bit much and also the recipe calls for chicken breasts which is outside of the JibberJabber budget. Thankfully, the packet suggests you substitute tinned tuna for the chicken and I always keep a stock of them in the cupboard. One thing to remember is that the recipe ingredients calls for 'pasta, cooked and drained' so remember to do this before you start on the rest of the dish. Once this is sorted you mix the packet with water and a tin of chopped tomatoes add the tuna and sweetcorn (says tin but we used frozen) and heat through. All this then goes into a dish and the topping goes on before it is put under the grill. 

 

Mediterranean Tuna Pasta + Cheesy Crumb Topping

Onto the taste test. I have to admit while it tasted fine it was a bit sloppy for my liking which is down to the water needed for the mix. I usually just use tinned tomatoes and then thicken with tomato purée. It did have a bit of a kick to it and upon inspection of the ingredients list I noticed both paprika and cayenne pepper. My Daughter didn't gobble it up as quickly as she normally does and I did question if she found it too 'spicy' (an universal term covering anything she doesn't like with a bit of heat in.) She said she didn't but I don't think this one was really a winner in our house.

Dinner is served!

This post is an entry for BritMums ‘What’s for Dinner Tonight?’ sponsored by Schwartz. Find out more about the new 2in1 mixes here. I was sent the above samples to try for free. No payment has been made for writing this post. The views stated are my own and the rest of the squad at JibberJabber Towers (husband and kids).

Smoked Salmon and Courgette (Zucchini) Pasta

Smoked Salmon and Courgette (Zucchini) Pasta

“Smoked salmon at JibberJabber Towers!” I hear you cry, “Is the Queen coming to supper?” No, just the four of us but this pasta dish with just some courgettes, olive oil and garlic makes a seemingly luxury meal a midweek family meal.

I love smoked salmon and in fact Christmas Day just isn't right without having scrambled eggs with smoked salmon for breakfast, a smoked salmon timbale starter and smoked salmon sandwiches for tea. Thankfully the rest of the occupants at JibberJibber Towers are also smoked salmon lovers. My local supermarket currently sells a 120g packet of smoked salmon trimmings for 98p, which is just the right amount for this recipe. I use the smoked salmon trimmings in a number of dishes but this recipe is particularly nice for summer as contains no heavy cream sauce and the courgettes give it a fresh and light taste.

There are two things to bear in mind when making this meal. Firstly, use olive oil as stated. Do not substitute sunflower or vegetable for it. The olive oil gives the pasta a distinct flavour that doesn't taste as good if other oils are used. Second thing concerns the courgettes. I grate them using the fine cutter attachment on my food processor. I do this for reasons of speed, to save my fingers being shredded and also because the courgettes don't get pulped when grated. You must also make sure you squeeze some of the water out of the courgettes as described. If you skip this stage do not come back to me complaining your courgettes ended up as a watery mush!

When we made this the last time we had it with farfalle or bow-tie shaped pasta because as any Doctor Who fan knows (and there are two here) that, “Bow-ties are cool”. However, choose your own favourite shape but spaghetti or linguine do work very well too.

With the three main ingredients of smoked salmon, courgettes and pasta this is being put forward for the Recipes for Life challenge for the SWALLOW Charity on Vanesther's Bangers and Mash blog.

 

Serves 4

Ingredients

300g Dried pasta

2 Courgettes, grated

2 Cloves of garlic, crushed

3 tbsp (45ml) Olive oil

100-150g Packet of Smoked salmon trimmings

Method

1. Start the pasta cooking in boiling water.

2. Using kitchen towels put the courgettes between two and squeeze the excess water out of the courgettes. You will need to do this in a couple of batches.

3. In a large saucepan heat the oil.

4. Cook the courgettes and garlic until the courgettes start to soften. Do not let the garlic to burn.

5. Once the pasta has cooked drain it and then add it to the courgettes and garlic.

6. Add the smoked salmon and stir until the mixture is well combined.

Serve immediately.

Tuna and Vegetable Spaghetti

Veggies galore in this tuna and vegetable spaghetti dish

When I was a child the only pasta we used to eat was spaghetti. This was once a week on Friday when my Nan made 'Meaty Bolognese' and not a single tomato was used in this recipe. Until I was about 15 and Dad bought some penne not a single other variety of pasta came into our house (except tinned ravioli). Now the choice of pasta in shops takes up many shelves but spaghetti still remains a favourite.

Getting kids to eat vegetables can often be a tricky task so I find one of the easiest ways is to load it into pasta sauce. For some added protein there's tuna in this recipe but you could easily omit it if you just want to stick to the vegetables. My personal preference for tinned tuna is in just spring water as I like to keep the taste of it. So this isn't just another ordinary tomato sauce I've included some Kikkoman Soy Sauce for some added tang.

Serves 4

Ingredients

10½ oz (300g) Spaghetti

1 tbsp (15ml) oil, sunflower or vegetable

1 Onion, chopped

2 Carrots, finely chopped

1 Garlic clove, sliced

1 small tin of Tuna, drained (around 100-150g)

1 tin chopped Tomatoes (around 400g)

1 tbsp (15ml) Tomato purée

1 tsp Dried mixed herbs

2 tsp (10ml) Kikkoman Soy Sauce

1 Red pepper, sliced

1 Green pepper, sliced

Method

1. Start to cook the spaghetti in boiling water.

2. In a large saucepan heat the oil then cook the onion, carrot and garlic until the onion starts to soften.

3. Add the tinned tomatoes, tomato purée, mixed herbs and soy sauce to the saucepan.

4. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat

5. Add the peppers and stir together.

6. When the spaghetti has cooked drain it and then put it in a large dish.

7. Add the vegetable tuna mixture to the spaghetti and stir together before serving.

Kikkoman sent the Soy Sauce for free to try and use. No payment was received for this post.

Mint Pesto with pan fried Salmon

I think I saw the yellow reduced label before I had a chance to work out what herb plant was inside the plastic wrapper. It turned out to be mint. I can't say I've ever used much mint in my cooking but I thought something alive and green would cheer up my kitchen window sill in these days of everlasting gloom and darkness.

So it sat in its pot having regular waterings until Jen at Blue Kitchen Bakes announced that as this month's host of Pasta Please! she had decided the theme to be pesto. Pasta Please! is a monthly challenge organized by Jac at Tinned Tomates with guest hosts deciding on a different theme.

Now I love pesto but making it at home can be a costly affair, especially when you can often find jars of it on offer in supermarkets for about a £1. Thankfully I had just enough pine nuts left from a previous recipe to make some pesto. I resisted the temptation to scoff the pine nuts because they really are a luxury and deserve something special to be made with them. The other main ingredient I would need for my pesto would be Parmesan or some other Italian hard cheese. I've been steadily working my way through a sizeable chunk of Parmesan since I found a piece of it reduced from £10.19 to £3.

While I could have easily eaten a trough of pesto on its own I felt it needed to be paired with something. I served the pesto with some casereccie pasta simply because I was swayed by the packaging saying it was perfect with pesto (and the fact it was on offer at 50p for 500g). Routing through my freezer I came across some salmon fillets; thus completing my search for a perfect Saturday night meal.

The salmon fillets were simply pan fried until cooked through. The pasta was cooked as per the instructions and I allowed 300g for 4 servings. When mixing the pesto with the pasta I used a little bit of the cooking water from the pasta to thin out the pesto. Remember you can always add extra liquid but you don't want a watery mess!

The proportions I have given for the pesto ingredients give quite a strong Parmesan taste with the mint flavour coming through afterwards. If you want a less cheesy hit then obviously reduce the amount of Parmesan you put in. As the pesto is heated through rather than cooked I use extra virgin olive oil as I think it gives a better taste when used in a more raw state. If you don't have any just use ordinary olive oil.

Serves 4

Equipment – Food processor with a sharp blade or hand blender

Ingredients

2oz (60g) Grated Parmesan

2oz (60g) Pine nuts

3 tbsp (45ml) Mint leaves

1 Garlic Clove

4 tbsp (60ml) Extra Virgin olive oil

Method

1. Put the Parmesan, pine nuts, mint and garlic into the bowl of the food processor or blender. Blitz until the pine nuts have been crushed.

2. Add the olive oil gradually, giving a quick blitz with each addition until it has all been added.

3. With a spoon stir the mixture to ensure all the ingredients are blended together.

4. Use as required as a pasta sauce, on bruschetta or as an additional flavouring on pizzas or in salads.

Pesto keeps well for a couple of days in the fridge if stored in a jar with a tight lid. Just give it a stir before using as often the oil will separate. Alternatively it can be frozen in ice cube trays.

Sausage & Pepper Pasta

I could big up this dish a little more. Perhaps 'Sausage & Pepper Pasta' isn't fancy enough and I should stick 'supper' at the end of the title or call it a 'stew'; only it doesn't cook for that long. It has a slight kick to it but nothing that will blow your head off or have the kids spitting it out. It does though have the things that kids love, namely sausages, tomato sauce and pasta. I've listed two separate ingredients for this recipe – one meat and one vegetarian. My only gripe with the vegetarian version is that this recipe is for 4 people so I allow 2 sausages each and the vegetarian sausages I use come in packs of 6 rather than 8 (please rectify this just me Quorn and Cauldron).

Although the recipe includes peppers as well if you haven't got any or don't like them this still makes a very tasty tomato sauce to have with sausages and onions.

Serves 4

Meat Ingredients                                              Vegetarian Ingredients

8 Pork sausages                                         8 Vegetarian sausages

1 tbsp (15ml) Oil                                        1 tbsp (15ml) Oil

1 Large onion, sliced                                   1 Large onion, sliced

1 Red pepper, sliced                                    1 Red pepper, sliced

1 Yellow pepper, sliced                                1 Yellow pepper, sliced

2 Cloves garlic, crushed                               2 Cloves garlic, crushed

1 tsp (5ml) Paprika                                     1 tsp (5ml) Paprika

Tin of chopped tomatoes                             Tin of chopped tomatoes

½ pint (284ml) Chicken stock                       ½ pint (284ml) Vegetable stock

1 tsp (5ml) dried oregano                            1 tsp (5ml) dried oregano

1 tsp (5ml) Demerara sugar                         1 tsp (5ml) Demerara sugar

½ tsp (2.5ml) Worcestershire Sauce              ½ tsp (2.5ml) Vegetarian     

                                                               Worcestershire Sauce or                                                                Henderson's Relish

Salt and Pepper to taste                                Salt and Pepper to taste

10oz (300g) Dried pasta                             10oz (300g) Dried pasta

Parmesan, grated to sprinkle on top             Vegetarian Italian hard cheese,  

                                                               grated to sprinkle on top

Method

1. In a large saucepan heat the oil and cook the sausages until evenly browned.

2. Remove the sausages from the pan and drain on a piece of kitchen paper.

3. Using the same oil fry the onions until just softened.

4. Put the peppers in the pan and fry for another 3-4 minutes.

5. Add the remaining ingredients except for the sausages and mix well.

6. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

7. While the mixture is cooking slice the sausages and then add to the pan and cook for another 10 minutes.

8. Cook the pasta while the sausage sauce is simmering.

9. Serve the pasta and sausages together with the grated cheese on top.