Pasta la vista, baby

The idea for pasta Mondays came about as a way for my boyfriend to try to get me and my flatmate to eat more carbs. Before this we tended to succumb to ‘no-carb-days’ (better known as ‘no-fun-days’) and other such health kick fads! We appreciated being cooked for and the opportunity to eat together, but his pasta Mondays generally consisted of overwhelming ‘rower-sized’ portions of pasta often accompanied with some sort of pesto, occasionally some chicken, and perhaps a concession of tomatoes for us girls.

Since he has moved out of London, we have continued the tradition of substantial portions to fulfil the main aim of eating more carbs. We still enjoy having at least one evening in the week where we make the effort to sit down and eat together, but we’ve taken on the challenge of creating cheap, quick and exciting pasta dishes that we really like eating. I have particularly enjoyed being inspired by pasta recipes in my favouriterecipe books that I would have previously skimmed over if I was cooking for other people; it came as a surprise to me that pasta could be a impressive dish to serve for special meals too!

The Pasta Mondays rules are as follows: the meal must be cheap, simple and easy to cook (preferably all made in less that half an hour – the exception to this rule is lasagne, which is worth taking your time over), involve at least one type of vegetable (one of your 5 a day!)and exciting (no sauce from a jar!). We often try to devise healthy twists of traditional pasta dishes or take inspiration from pasta recipes found in our favourite cookbooks. I have included some of our creations to help inspire your own Pasta Mondays (or Tuesdays, or Wednesdays...).

Cauliflower and Broccoli Cheese

This is a healthy and quick twist on the traditional macaroni cheese. Penne or fusilli will work equally well. – Serves 2

250g pasta

One small head of broccoli and one small head of cauliflower (or a pack of broccoli and cauliflower florets)

One pack of soft cheese (300g)

2tsp grainy mustard

Good handful of strong cheddar to sprinkle on top.

Salt and pepper

Chop the broccoli and cauliflower heads into small pieces Put pasta on the boil and cook as per packet instructions. While the pasta is cooking, put the vegetables in a sieve or steamer pan and steam over the pasta until both the pasta and vegetables are cooked. They should be done at roughly the same time.

Preheat the grill to medium. Drain the pasta, reserving a little of the cooking water and add the vegetables, soft cheese, mustard and seasoning to the pasta pan. Stir until everything is well combined; if it looks a bit sticky, add a little of the cooking water.

Pour the contents of the pan into a flat oven proof dish, then scatter over the cheddar and a grind of pepper. Put the dish under the grill until the cheddar is crispy and golden. Serve at the table in the dish and enjoy!

REAL Pesto

I never believed this was worth making until I did one Pasta Monday – not only is it easy, but it tastes SO much better than pesto from a jar (and I like pesto from a jar!) There are many variations on this classic recipe – I have included two below that we have tried and loved.

We use a mini chopper/food processor to make ours, but you can still easily make a more ‘deconstructed’ pesto by finely chopping the ingredients by hand.

Basil Pesto

50g pine nuts

50g parmesan cheese

1 bunch fresh basil leaves

1-2 cloves garlic, peeled

Olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

A squeeze of lemon juiceToast the pine nuts (by dry frying in a pan or under a medium grill) until golden. Put most of the pine nuts, the parmesan, basil, garlic and a glug of olive oil in the mini chopper and blend, gradually adding more oil until you have a pesto-like consistency. Add a dash of lemon juice, season to taste and sprinkle over the remaining pine nuts. Use in pasta dishes as desired.

If you don’t have a food processor/mini chopper: Finely grate the parmesan, then finely chop the basil and garlic with a knife. Combine with the pine nuts and olive oil until the pesto-like consistency is achieved. Season as above.

Alternative: Spinach, Walnut and Goat’s Cheese Pesto

This is made in exactly the same way as above but substituting 60-70g spinach for the basil, 50g strong, hard goat’s cheese for the parmesan and 50g walnuts for the pine nuts (if making by hand, chop the walnuts into smaller pieces.) Omit the lemon juice at the end.