More Food...

I made a few things the other weekend.

Friday night Pasta Bake

(You can make this while talking on the phone to your friend – I did!)

Pasta Bake

Fry off a couple of sliced chorizo sausages and then some chopped skinless chicken thighs. Pop on some pasta – shells or tubes or whatever you have in the cupboard but probably not spaghetti! Put some chopped onion and garlic in pan you were frying in and soften. Add a bottle or two of tomato sauce and/or canned chopped tomatoes. Mix everything together. I also added some cooked broccoli as it was in the fridge and if you add some vegetables, surely it’s a complete meal??

Whack it all in a baking dish, smother with cheese and bake for half an hour or so until cheese is melted and the kids are so hungry you can’t put them off any longer.

Pumpkin Soup

This is so easy and versatile. I chopped up 3 onions and softened them in a big pot with butter and some crushed garlic. Peel and chop a small Kent pumpkin. (I save all the pumpkin seeds and bake them in the oven – not only are they yum but by sparing them from the compost, you don’t get those random pumpkin plants popping up all over the place where you’ve spread it around the garden. Win win!) Chop some new potatoes – don’t bother peeling them – and toss them in the pot. Add enough chicken stock and water to cover and bring to the boil. Simmer until veggies are soft and then bamix or blend the hell out of it until smooth.

When serving, you can have it plain, or I like piles of freshly grated ginger. Kids tend like a bit of sour cream or Greek yoghurt, but you could also add a splash of sweet chili sauce, coriander, grated nutmeg or anything else you might fancy.

Rhubarb

Chop a bunch of rhubarb into 2cm pieces. I cut them on an angle – no idea why – force of habit. Put it in a microwave-proof dish. Check the fruit bowl for apples and pears that everyone is avoiding. Peel and chop and throw in too. They’re not essential – they don’t add or detract – but it uses them up. Add the grated skin of an orange. (I hate grating but it’s worth it.) Squeeze the juice in too. Add a couple of cinnamon sticks, heaps of brown sugar and grated nutmeg (always better to grate your own – but not essential if you can’t be bothered. You could also use ground cinnamon as well if you don’t have sticks, or even mixed spice if that’s what’s in the cupboard.)

Cover with Gladwrap. My microwave has cooking sensor, so I just put it on ‘Fruit’ and it cooks it.

It’s so delicious I confess I have had it with plain no-fat yoghurt for dinner.

1.Rhubarb

2, Yes, it looks like sand and sticks..

3, More delicious than it looks - promise!