Wednesday 19 September 2012

Easy Peasy Pasta

Here is a fantastic little recipe for a tasty pasta dish. Easy to prepare and not time consuming, while still being healthy and using fresh ingredients.

Thanks to Karen over at The Mums To Do List for this great recipe.

1. Chop 1 onion (I use red) and add to pan with 1 tablespoon of oil.

2. Add 2 garlic cloves (sliced)...but if your children will cringe if they see a slice of garlic, crush it instead...they will never know!

3. Add 1 chopped red pepper.  Again if kids are funny about peppers chop it really finely to hide it, or you could substitute for mushrooms, carrots, peas or courgette.  In fact any veg that your children like could be added to give them another of their 5 a day.

4. Soften the above ingredients in the pan, then add a big handful of pancetta.  If you can't find pancetta in the supermarket just buy streaky bacon and chop it up.  Cook until pancetta browns a little.

5. Add half a teaspoon of fennel seeds if you like a bit of flavour, then 4 (chopped) fresh tomatoes and 400g of tinned tomatoes.  Then a little water (about 75ml).  Bring to a simmer and add 1 beef stock cube.  You could season with salt and pepper, but if cooking for toddlers lay off the salt.


6. Allow the sauce to thicken on simmer, and once the pasta is cooked either spoon over the pasta, or you can mix the pasta into the sauce and serve.

7. Sprinkle with a little grated parmesan (or any cheese finely grated).


Mine differed only slightly from the above recipe. I omitted the fennel seeds (not a fan) and instead of peppers packed out the sauce with peas, green beans, carrots and sweetcorn. (Love my veggies) 



Clean plates all round and safe in the knowledge we have had our 5 a day :-)

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