Archive for pasta

Monday – 25th Feb

February 29, 2008 at 10:31 pm · Filed under pasta

Gnocchi with bacon, tomato and baby spinach sauce

This is one of those recipes that you jus sort of make. It can be made with any pasta and almost any ingredients you like. Here’s my version from Monday : fry some chopped bacon in a large pan until just cooked, add some chopped fresh tomatoes and about 1/2 cup tomato pasta sauce or tomato paste, cook for a few mins until tomatoes just start to soften. Add some baby spinach leaves and a teaspoon of chilli sauce. Quickly stir through. Add cooked pasta to the pan, stir through and serve hot with grated parmesan.

Sometimes I add onions (not this time, because the kids were eating it too and they constantly tell me they don’t like onions), or you can use ham or chorizo instead of the bacon and add in other vegies. 

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Lasagna

February 23, 2008 at 10:28 pm · Filed under ground beef / mince, pasta

Lasagna, salad, garlic bread

Here’s how I make lasagna

500g/1lb ground/minced beef

1 1/2 -2 jars of pasta sauce

white sauce (see below)

500g/16ox ricotta cheese

grated cheese (cheddar, asiago, parmesan, mozzarella or any combination)

dried lasagna sheets

Cook the beef in a pan until browned. Drain any fat, add pasta sauce and simmer 20 mins. if desired, can add some chopped onion, garlic, fresh or dried herbs to the beef mix.

Make white sauce – heat pan and melt 2 tablespoons butter. When just melted, remove pan from heat, and add enough flour to get a fairly stiff roux. Then add a small amount of milk. Return pan to heat, stirring constantly to ensure it doesn’t stick. As the mixture thickens, gradually add more milk (about 1.5 cups is usually enough), stirring frequently.

Add ricotta and about 2/3 of other cheeses to the white sauce and mix until combined.

Layer pasta sheets, meat, pasta, white sauce until the lasagna pan is full, finishing with a white sauce layer. Top with more the remaining cheese and bake for 50 mins at 180/350F.

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