PASTA LA VISTA, BABY | MY FAVOURITE PASTA RECIPES

When I tell you I'm obsessed with pasta, I mean I am obsessed with pasta. It's probably my favourite thing to eat and I love how versatile it is. I mean, come on, just look at the many variations of pasta itself - never mind the different types of sauces and things you can accompany pasta with. It's truly the best. Anyway, I eat pasta a lot, and I've therefore collated a whole lot of pasta recipes - here, I'm sharing four of my favourites (in no particular order). 

Chicken fajita pasta bake 

Now, I love a pasta bake but this one is top notch. It's super easy and takes less than an hour to make (I'd probably say 45 minutes in total), so it's nice and easy for a weeknight dinner. 

Ingredients: pasta of your choice (I used fusilli here), chicken (to serve four people I used two chicken breasts), one red pepper, one onion, salsa, fajita seasoning, cheese, coriander

Method: 

• Boil your pasta, leave it cooking while you do the rest
• Chop some chicken and coat it with the fajita seasoning, add it to a pan and let it cook 
• Dice your onion and pepper, then add to the pan with the chicken and fry
• Once your onion, pepper and chicken is cooked, add your jar of salsa to the pan with some of your pasta water 
• Add your pasta and mix it all together
• Transfer it to an oven proof dish and top with some cheese
• Pop it in the oven to allow the cheese to melt 
• Top with some chopped coriander (not pictured but definitely recommend adding) and serve!

Sausage pesto pasta

This one is probably my favourite on the list - again, super easy and speedy to make but so delicious. 

Ingredients: pasta of your choice (we used this funky multi-coloured pasta from M&S, I'm not sure of the name), sausages, red onion, mushrooms, garlic, green pesto, Philadelphia

Method: 

• Pop your sausages in the oven (we do five sausages to serve three people) 
• Cook your pasta 
• In a pan, fry your onion, mushroom and garlic 
• Mix in 100 grams of Philadelphia, 60 grams of pesto and a bit of pasta water 
• Chop your sausage into slices then mix the sausage and pasta in 
• Then tuck in! You can top it with Parmesan if you like - I personally tend to steer away

Creamy Italian Sausage pasta

This is literally just a concoction I came up with one Saturday, and it's so good. 

Ingredients: Italian sausages (I used the M&S ones), pasta of your choice (I used spirali), chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, double cream, red pepper, red onion, cheese, cajun spice, mixed herbs, salt and pepper.

Method:

• First, chop your onion and pepper - the measurements are really up to you but, to make a single portion, I used a quarter of a whole red pepper and about the same of the red onion. Pop these into your pan and let them fry a little. 
• Meanwhile, get your pasta cooking 
• Then, de-skin your sausages and kind of smush them up - I tried various ways of doing this and the most effective for me was breaking it up with my fingers and then putting them into the pan with the pepper and onion and then using a wooden spoon to break them up a little more. Let the sausage cook through. 
• After the sausage has cooked through, add your chopped tomatoes (I used a quarter of a tin for a single serving) and a couple of squirts of tomato puree, and mix them in
• Add your double cream - again, for a single serving, I probably used 100 ml 
• Add your salt, pepper, mixed herbs and cajun spice - measurements here are again up to you
• Add some of your pasta water and give the sauce a bit of a stir to mix all together, then add your pasta 
• Then, it's time to serve - you can top it with cheese if you wish 

Meatball pasta bake

Again, a pasta bake created when trying to use things up in my cupboard/fridge. It's super easy and really tasty. 

Ingredients: meatballs (up to you what kind), pasta of your choice (I used fusili), tinned chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, mushrooms, white onion, garlic, mozzarella (ball, not pre-grated), Italian spices/seasoning 

Method:

• First, stick your meatballs in a pan and leave them to fry off, turning them ever so often to let them cook evenly (in terms of how many, it really depends on how many people you're cooking for - I used 12 meatballs to serve 3 people) 
• Get your pasta cooking in the meantime
• Chop your onion and mushrooms - I'm a big fan of both so used a whole onion and whole packet of baby mushrooms
• Now, I removed the meatballs from the pan and cut them in half to get them to cook through a little faster. Pop them back into the pan along with the onion, mushrooms and some garlic and leave them to cook for a few minutes
• Add your chopped tomatoes (I used a whole tin) and a couple of squirts of tomato puree, and then add your Italian seasonings and give it all a stir to mix together
• Leave your sauce to simmer for a couple of minutes and then add a bit of pasta water, then drain your pasta and add the pasta to your sauce 
• Give it a mix, then pop the whole lot into an oven-proof dish - tear up your mozzarella ball and pop it on top of the pasta 
• Put it in the oven for 15 minutes (or until you're happy with the melting of the cheese) 
• Then it's time to serve and enjoy! 

As I mentioned, I love pasta. And have hundreds of incredible pasta concoctions in my brain so I'm sure that this won't be my last pasta themed post but, for now, happy pasta-ing!