ROASTED TOMATO PROSCIUTTO PASTA

I am currently trying to do the 5:2 diet - funnily enough I dont find it difficult to have two five-hundred calorie days a week, the problem is not going OTT on the normal days (especially at a weekend). Also I do not want Arabella growing up with weight issues (like I did) so the word diet is banned from the house and I still need cook and eat with her, without her knowing I am watching my calories. Slim pasta has become a life saver!!

Last night I cooked a delicious Fay Ripley pasta recipe which came to 256 calories and that included 15g Parmesan (I still need my cheese). Here is the recipe with proper pasta but if like me, you are watching your weight, just substitute the pasta for slim pasta (although it obviously wont taste as good)!!

Ingredients for 2 people:

250g tomatoes
4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 tbsp of olive oil
3 slices (45g) prosciutto
10g fresh basil leaves
150g dried pasta (penne or fusilli works well)

This recipe does take a little bit of time however it will make your house smell amazing and it tastes incredible.

Preheat the oven 180 C (fan) / 200 C / gas mark 6. 

Cut out the green core from the tomatoes and slice in half horizontally. Place them on a baking tray with the unpeeled garlic and drizzle with olive oil and season. Roast for 30 minutes.

Next lay the prosciutto on top of the tomatoes and roast for a further 15 minutes. While this is in the oven, start thinking about cooking the pasta according to the packet instructions.

Remove the prosciutto and set aside.

Squeeze out the roasted garlic flesh into a food processor and roughly mix with the basil and tomatoes.

Finally toss the pasta with the tomato, basil and garlic sauce and serve with broken bits of prosciutto (it is easiest to use your hands for this).

Garnish with some basil, sprinkle with Parmesan and tuck in.

This is delicious - really fresh and sweet at the same time - plus the roasted garlic smells incredible and so your house smells like a real Italian mamas house. This is definitely worth the time it takes and I think will be a regular fixture on my "2" days and maybe my "5" days too!!

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PASTA WITH CHORIZO TOMATO GOATS CHEESE

Arabella is a goats cheese fanatic and would literally have it with every meal. I see it as a good way of increasing her calcium intake as she hates milk. Therefore I have a whole array of goats cheese recipes…it helps that I also adore it!!

This is a very quick easy meal that can be adapted for taste but this is how we did it and we absolutely loved it!

Ingredients for 2 people:

6 ripe tomatoes

160g spaghetti (or you could use any type of pasta).

85g chorizo, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

80g goats cheese, chopped

A handful of fresh basil or snipped chives

According to this recipe the whole cooking process should take 5 minutes but that certainly wasnt the case for me. The tomatoes took longer to prepare however they were worth it.

Boil the kettle and then pour boiling water over the tomatoes, cover and leave for one minute.

Then drain and remove the skins (they literally fall off) and seeds, and chop into small pieces. This was an extremely messy process! Also slice the garlic.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta according to the packets instructions (mine took 10 minutes).

While the pasta is cooking, fry the garlic in a tablespoon of olive oil for a couple of minutes and then add the tomatoes, chorizo and season.

If necessary, add another tablespoon of olive oil (I did) and then cook gently for around 8 minutes.

Drain the pasta and mix together with the tomato and chorizo sauce.

Stir in half the goats cheese until it is mostly melted.

Finally serve with the remaining goats cheese and a sprinkling of chives (or basil).

This was delicious - Arabella and I both adored it and ate every last morsel. We will be adding this to our regular cook list. It was so simple yet so tasty. You could mix it up by using bacon instead of chorizo or using mozzarella or blue cheese instead of goats cheese. We sent a picture of it to Pascal who is in France and he had serious food envy….not surprising though!!

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SALMON PASTA BAKE

I am so happy school went back today - I have been craving the routine and normality. Arabella also came back after a week at her fathers house and I was so excited to see her. 

This recipe is from the Saturday Times magazine and I knew Pascal would hate it as he is not keen on fish pasta or cream but Arabella would love it as salmon pasta is one of her favourites. However Pascal isnt here, so it was the perfect time to try it out.

Ingredients for 2 people:

300ml of double cream
200g of salmon 
A bay leaf
90g of pasta - I used penne but you could use macaroni or fusilli or serpentelli
1 tbsp of wholegrain mustard
25g sourdough bread, blitzed into breadcrumbs
A handful of dill, blitzed with the breadcrumbs

I also added some grated Parmesan cheese into the breadcrumbs but this wasnt part of the recipe and is entirely optional - I just couldnt bear a pasta bake without cheese!!

Preheat the oven to 200 C / gas mark 6.

Pour the cream into a saucepan and add the salmon fillet, a bay leaf and some black pepper. Bring almost to the boil and then lower the heat. Let the salmon cook gently for about 10 minutes, until the flesh comes apart in large flakes with ease, then remove from the heat.

Meanwhile cook the pasta in salted, boiling water according to the packets instructions. I always like to cook mine al dente and this took around 8 minutes. Drain when ready.

At the same time as the salmon and pasta are cooking, blitz the bread in a food processor with the dill, into coarse breadcrumbs.

When the salmon is ready, remove it from the cream and cut into pieces, discarding any skin.

Mix the fish with the pasta.

Stir in a tablespoon of wholegrain mustard and a little bit of salt into the cream and then pour over the pasta and salmon and mix together.

Pour into a baking dish and top with the breadcrumbs. As I mentioned I also added some grated Parmesan.

Finally cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the crumbs are golden and lightly crisp.

This was really quick and easy to make and really tasty. Both Arabella and I enjoyed it although it is quite rich….next time I will definitely serve it with a green salad for myself and some cucumber for Arabella or alternatively add some peas. It was a great way to make Arabella eat oily fish with no complaints whatsoever…..normally when I suggest salmon she turns her nose up a bit as she thinks its boring……this was anything but!

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MUSHROOM CHORIZO THYME PASTA

Arabella is a really good eater however she puts her foot down over a few things - aubergines, duck and mushrooms. I dont know what she has against these 3 ingredients as Pascal and I love them all. However I dont force them down her as she eats pretty much everything else and she has been known to even enjoy the odd mushroom if it is covered in breadcrumbs and garlic mayo!!

Anyway as Arabella was with her father last weekend, I thought it would be a good opportunity to cook a mushroom pasta and as Pascal and I are huge chorizo fans, this definitely hit the spot.

Ingredients for 4 people:

350g of penne or other pasta like conchiglie, farfalle or fusilli
2 tbsp olive oil
400g button mushrooms, sliced
250g chorizo, cut into 5mm slices
150ml single or double (we used double)
150ml chicken stock
1tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves
80g Parmesan, shaved, to serve

Slice the mushrooms and chorizo, make up the stock and chop the thyme. 

If you are using dry pasta, you will need to start cooking this first in salted boiling water. We had fresh pasta which only took a few minutes so we didnt start yet.

Instead we started by putting a frying pan on a high heat, adding the oil and then the mushrooms once it was hot. 

Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are softened and lightly golden.

This is when I started cooking the pasta (which took 3-4 minutes). Once the pasta is cooking, drain and set aside, retaining about 50ml of the cooking water.

Back to the mushrooms, add the chorizo to the frying pan with them, and fry to 1-2 minutes.

Stir in the cream, stock and thyme and then season. Reduce the heat to medium-low so the sauce is bubbling.

Finally add the pasta and cooking water to the sauce and mix well.

Serve in bowls and scatter with Parmesan.

This was absolutely delicious  - the chorizo gives the pasta a bit of a kick and the cream just adds a little flavour without being rich. Plus I adore mushrooms…I just used button mushrooms but you could mix it up a bit with oyster or wild mushrooms, like chanterelles, or even a combination. Another alternative would be to turn it into a pasta bake by baking it in a dish and covering it in cheese….I will definitely try this next time!!!

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ROASTED AUBERGINE GOATS CHEESE PASTA

My daughter Arabella isnt a fussy eater but she detests aubergines - I just dont get it as I absolutely love them! Anyway as she was at her fathers for the weekend, I decided it would be the perfect time to cook this pasta recipe. I had cooked it previously about 5 years ago so it was definitely time to give it another go. It took about 35 minutes and was really easy.

Ingredients for 2 people:

1 medium aubergine, cut into wedges
1 red onion, cut into wedges
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
8 leaves of fresh basil shredded, plus a few whole leaves for garnishing
150g pasta such as penne or fusilli
100g goats cheese
2 tbsp toasted pine nuts

Preheat the oven to 220 C / gas mark 7.

Chop the aubergine, onion and garlic and shred the basil. Arrange the aubergine and onion in a small roasting tin. Scatter over the garlic, basil and olive oil and season. Roast for 20 - 25 minutes, stirring once or twice until tender and charred.

While the vegetables are cooking, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta according to the packets instructions - mine took 8 minutes.

Drain and mix together with the roasted vegetables, goats cheese and toasted pine nuts. I actually forgot to toast the pine nuts but it didnt matter. Normally I would dry fry them for 3-4 minutes.

Serve immediately with some basil leaves and more seasoning if you desire.

I cant believe that I havent cooked this recipe for 5 years! It is so delicious and so simple to make plus to you dont need to many ingredients. A perfect midweek supper idea….I just need to now convince Arabella she likes aubergines too, luckily she is already sold on the goats cheese! I bet the goats cheese, pine nuts, onion, aubergine and basil would make a great pizza topping as well!

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