Pass The Pasta | Life Love and Hiccups: Pass The Pasta
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Tuesday 24 March 2015

Pass The Pasta

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Brought to you by Coles

How flipping easy is pasta as the go to meal for the family on a busy weeknight?

TOO easy right!

I mean if my kids ask me “What’s for dinner?” and I answer with “Pasta” then there are no complaints and no moany “errrrrrrr paaaasTAH” .

Nothing just happy smiley easily pleased faces… which can be no easy feat to achieve right!

The weather is starting to cool down at night now so the idea of sitting down to a table of pasta, a glass of red wine and garlic bread with the family and any drop-er-iner-ers is pretty close to perfect as far as my rumbling tum is concerned… as long as it’s not too hard to make it.

I have to confess, my pasta repertoire in the past tended to go something like this;

Spag bog, spag bog and spag bog. 
(that would be Spaghetti Bolognese for the less bogan-ish among us).

It’s just one of those recipes that everyone kind of knows off the top of their head and you can pretty much make it without to much thought and even with a baby on the hip, a toddler or small human attached to your ankles and without having to take your eyes of the Bold and The Beautiful.

A bit like me in my early parenting days.

OK yesterday.

Whatever,  my point remains – spag bol is soooo darn easy to make so why change?

Because it is boooring!

B.O.R.I.N.G

There I said it… although because I am such a wuss I would like to take a moment to sincerely apologise to any seriously dedicated spaghetti lovers that I may have just offended.

The thing is I am just sooooo over spaghetti Bolognese and so I thought I would try out a couple of new pasta dishes on the family but with one rule – they have to meet the strict criteria that includes;
  • Easy to make
  • No fussy hard to find ingredients
  • The kids have to eat it without any mind bending moaning from them or bribery from me
  • It can be made in pretty much the time it takes for a pot of pasta to cook.

Right! Self imposed challenged accepted.

Here are two recipes I came up with and one extra one that I sourced from the Coles website.


Now so you can gauge whether your fussiest of eaters will also be satisfied with the meals - I have also included how each recipe ranked on our family’s scoreboard. A scoreboard determined by a panel that consists of one easy to please hubby, one super fussy eater, one slightly less fussy eater and one teenager who would eat the plate and table as well if you let him.


CHILLI TUNA, LEMON & ASAPARAGUS PAPPARDELLE


INGREDIENTS
A 400gm can of tuna in spring water drained
A generous handful of parsley finely chopped
1 lemon
2-3 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
3 tbs of olive oil
¼ cup of grated or shaved parmesan cheese
1 bunch of fresh asparagus
1 packet of Pappardelle egg pasta
Salt and pepper to season

METHOD
Cook your pasta according to instructions.
Cover your asparagus with 2 cups of salted boiling water and let it stand for 10 to 12 minutes until it is crisp and tender. Then drain and chop up.
Whilst your pasta is cooking heat your oil in a fry pan and cook your garlic and parsley until it is sautéed. Add your tuna and cook for a few minutes before adding the juice from your lemon some salt and pepper to season and your asparagus.
Drain your pasta and toss it through your tuna mix.
To serve sprinkle it with chilli flakes for the chilli lovers, some cracked pepper and sprinkle over with the parmesan cheese.

THE FAMILY SCOREBOARD
Score from the husband 11/10
Score from the kids
Kid 1 8/10
Kid 2 7/10 but upped it to a 10 when I told him there was apple pie for desert. OK yes I bribed!
Kid 3 was away at camp.




SPINACH GARLIC AND BUFFALO MOZZARELLA CASARECCE

INGREDIENTS
A 200 gm bags of baby spinach
3 garlic gloves chopped
A round of buffalo cheese
A packet of Casareece pasta (or any pasta really)
Salt and pepper to season
3 tbs of olive oil

METHOD
Cook your pasta according to instructions.
Heat your oil and sauté your garlic in a fry pan. Add you spinach and stir until it is wilted.
Season with salt and stir through your pasta and small chunks of mozzarella.
Top with some cracked pepper and Bon appétit.

THE FAMILY SCOREBOARD
Score from the husband 9/10
Score from the kids
Kid 1 10/10
Kid 2 6/10 he didn’t like the spinach
Kid 3 wasn’t talking to me so who knows


CHEAT'S PASTITSIO


Last but not least is the good old pasta bake.

Pasta bake is a trusty fave in our house and I actually like to make it a day or two ahead because in my opinion there is nothing better than a reheated pasta bake when you get home late from afternoon sport.

We tried this recipefrom the Coles website here and we used turkey mince instead of lamb mince. Winner Winner people - no ifs or buts about it!

THE FAMILY SCOREBOARD
Score from the husband 9/10 and an extra point for apparently looking sexy.
Score from the kids
Kid 1 fifty thousand/10
Kid 2 10/10 and an eye roll and ear flick to his younger brother.
Kid 10/10 I think but his mouth was full of seconds so I can’t really be sure… but I am totally claiming it anyway.


All the ingredient for these recipes are in store or online at Coles and remember that all fresh Coles meat is 100% Australian, all fresh Coles beef has no added hormones, all fresh Coles pork is sow stall free and all fresh Coles chicken is RSPCA approved.

For more inspiration for easy weeknight meals don’t forget to check out the huge array of recipes on recipes.coles. com.au and taste.com.au

Taste.com.au now has a fabulous shop to cart feature that means you can tick the ingredients you need for your recipe and it will add them straight to your Coles online shopping trolley. It could not be any easier to shop for what you need.

The March magazine is also free in store now or you can access it on the Coles website or the iPad app

If you feel like sharing your home made awesomeness then tag your instagram or Facebook photos with #colesmag and tag me too @lifelovehiccups  so that I can have a good old sticky beak at your cleverness.

What’s your fave pasta recipe in your family?