Easy Pasta Dishes

anything I don't mind

anything I don't mind

anything I don't mind

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I like pasta a lot. I don't know how to make good pasta and don't want to make the sauce as it looks complicated and a lot of effort. So I just buy premade sauce. But there is still a lot of different things you can do even if the sauce is pre made. If you could post your easy pasta dishes and how you made them, ideally if you use premade sauces.

This is one of the pasta dishes that I make. But you can use different meats etc.

Surprisingly this is realy tasty but is probably not a usual pasta. :o :rolleyes:

Sauce: Loyd grossman - Tomato and basil
Meat: Bacon
Type of pasta: shell
Optional/extra ingredients: mushrooms, ground pepper, cheese

Instructions
fry the 3 or 4 slices bacon
boil pasta
take bacon out and dice up
fry mushrooms if added
now i remove everything the fried bacon and mushrooms
put the sauce in the frying pan on low heat and simmer for up to 8 mins
one at about 4mins add bacon, then a bit later add fried mushroom
Then i mix the pasta and sauce
i don't like parmesan so i just add some small amount of nice cheddar grates on top

For 10-15 mins its a quick meal that is very tasty.

Another variation of this pasta is dice chicken breasts with the grossman tomato and chilli sauce.
 
Sauce isn't hard at all it could be as simple as tomato and origano.

If you want to try something a bit different try egg carbonara.
 
Making pasta sauce complicated? You're a bit of a melon are you OP?

How about this for you, chop up an onion and slowly soften in butter, add a lot of garlic and some EV olive oil (You want the oil to absorb garlic flavour and act as a dressing).
Toss the pasta in that, grate some paramesan on top to season. No sauce just tasty pasta.
 
Prawn Linguini for 2-

Prep
Chop 1/2 large red onion
Chop 2 or 3 cloves of garlic
Rinse fresh prawns

Cook
Heat olive oil in a pan on medium
Chuck in onion and garlic and cook for approx. 3 minutes
Pour some Worcestershire source into the pan (I dont measure this)
Let simmer with the garlic and onion for about 1-2 mins
Add one tin of chopped tomatoes
Pour in a modest amount of tobasco sauce
Add salt, pepper, basil and 'mixed herbs' and stir in
.........................................................................
Heat another pan on medium heat with oil
Add chilli paste and/or a fresh chilli to the pan and let simmer
Add prawns and cook for 2 minutes each side (Me and the girlfriend usually find 1 200g pack is nowehre near enough and 2 packs is a nice amount/ maybe a bit left over)
Add prawns to pan containing the sauce and let simmer for a further couple of minutes.
.......................................................................
Serve with linguini which you will have been cooking simultaneously with the above and as per the pack instructions.
......................................................................
Serve with a squeeze of lemon.

Prep 5 minutes
Cooking time 20 minute max.

Stop with the pre made stuff.....^ is easy, nutritous and damn tasty. :p
 
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The problem I have with pasta sauces is that they're all pretty much the same. Here's an easy recipe I sometimes use without a sauce:

Ingredients:
Clove of garlic (finely chopped)
Bacon (diced - you could also use lardons I guess)
Broccoli (the smaller the florets the better)
Mushrooms (optional)
Grated cheese (Gruyere preferred)
Pasta (shells or tubes preferred)

Method:
1. Boil the Broccoli in salted water for 5 minutes
2. Remove the Broccoli and boil the pasta in the Broccoli water
3. While pasta is boiling, fry garlic, bacon (and mushrooms) in a tablespoon of olive oil
4. Add Broccoli to frying pan a couple of minutes before the pasta is al dente
5. Drain pasta and combine with the Bacon/Broccoli mixture
6. Serve and sprinkle cheese and black pepper to taste.
 
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Plus keep some of the pasta cooking water to add a bit back to the mix once finished to give a little looseness to the sauce if you're only using onions, garlic and cheese.

You could also add some passata (sivved tomatoes) or plumb tomatoes after the onions have gone transparent and garlic has been in for a minute. Simmer for 20 minutes and then add parmesan and season. I tend to add a fresh bay leaf with the tomatoes which gives it a subtle flavour in the background which is really nice with pasta dishes. Rip up (don't use a knife) a nice handful of fresh basil at the last minute.

I personally like the classic carbonara base for a sauce but you can adapt slightly for a tomato-based sauce if you like. This is for 2 people:
- 1x large onion, finely diced
- 2-3x large cloves of garlic (I'm liking the whole grating thing at the moment but if you do then don't cook for too long, no more than 1 minute)
- 200g of diced pancetta or lightly smoked (but good quality) bacon with rind removed
- (Optional) 2x tins of good quality plumb or cherry tomatoes or equivalent passata
- (For carbonara)150g of pecorino romano cheese
- 150g of parmigiana (parmesan) cheese (needs to be the fresh stuff, the plastic tubs are awful!)
- Small tub of crème fraiche (150-300g)
- 350g spaghetti (generous portions in our house!)

Carbonara:
- Put pasta on now as the whole dish takes ~10 minutes. I always at 1tsp of salt and a glug of olive oil to the water once boiling.
- I tend to fry the pancetta/bacon first as I prefer it crispy in this recipe so give it 3-4 minutes on a fairly high heat in a bit of butter and glug of olive oil (to prevent butter from burning).
- When bacon is starting to brown, turn hob down and gently sweat the large onion on a medium heat in a tablespoon of butter (less if there is a reasonable amount of liquid from bacon).
- After 5-6 minutes or once the onions are transparent, add the garlic and continue on a medium heat for no more than a minute.
- Transfer pasta with a pair of tongues to the bacon and onion mix. Add the pecorino and most of the parmesan, mix well. Add 150g of crème fraiche, or more if you prefer. You could also add an egg at this point if you like (1x large egg, slightly beaten) and let it heat through the mix (don't let it scramble so keep it moving). This shouldn’t take more than 1-2 minutes on a medium/low heat.

Base tomato sauce:
- Fry the pancetta/bacon for 3-4 minutes on a fairly high heat in a bit of butter and glug of olive oil (to prevent butter from burning).
- When bacon is starting to brown, turn hob down and gently sweat the large onion on a medium heat in a tablespoon of butter (less if there is a reasonable amount of liquid from bacon).
- After 5-6 minutes or once the onions are transparent, add the garlic and continue on a medium heat for no more than a minute.
- Put on your pasta in 10 minutes so have everything ready.
- Add passata or tinned tomatoes and bay leaf if you like. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally (can do for longer which will make sauce richer but needs to be relatively fluid).
- Season to taste. If a little acidic then add a small pinch of white sugar, just enough to take away the tanginess/tartness from tomatoes.
- Remove bay leaf and then add pasta, mix and add a couple of tablespoons of creme fraiche and add a teaspoon or two of water from your cooked pasta if required, until taste/texture is fine.
- Add shredded basil at this point.
- Add parmesan to the plated pasta and scoff with some garlic bread or salad

I prefer to add pasta to the sauce so it's all coated but with carbonara especially I tend to add a good amount of pasta water when I'm trying to get the taste/texture right, just add a little at a time.

I always find this needs plenty of fresh ground pepper but rarely add salt as the cheese is quite salty.
 
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15 min meatballs makes 4

Cook enough pasta for 4,
Chop up 8 beef sausages and cook on med heat for 6min,
Chop up 1 red onion and add to sausages, crush 2 big garlic cloves and add them, cook for 2min,
Add a tub of Pasata, 2 Table spoons of balsamic vinegar, 1 chopped pepper, salt and pepper. Cook for further 5-7 minutes.

Drain pasta serve.
 
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- Fry chopped bacon and sliced mushrooms on a high heat
- Remove from pan
- Turn pan down, add oil and butter and sweat a sliced leek for 10mins
- Cook penne in a saucepan
- When pasta is nearly ready, add bacon and mushrooms back in with leeks
- Add 2-3 spoonfuls of creme fraiche and some pasta water, simmer for a minute or so
- Add some chopped parsley
- Add cooked pasta and mix well
- Serve

I honestly don't know why people don't think they can cook from scratch, especially pasta of all things.. You can cook the above dish in the time it takes to cook the pasta..
 
kayomani said:
Sauce isn't hard at all it could be as simple as tomato and origano.

If you want to try something a bit different try egg carbonara.
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spoffle said:
Making your own pasta sauce isn't complicated at all
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One More Solo said:
Aren't all pasta dishes easy if you're buying pre-made pasta and sauce? :p
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I don't have a kitchen full of ingredients and don't cook fresh food enough to justifying buying spices and all sorts of random ingredients.

I am single so have to cook for myself every night after work and rarely want to spend a long time preparing food, this way pre made sauce are easy and often far more tasty than i could ever make sauce.
 
MikeTheNative said:
I do like the Loyd Grossman sauces, they are quite tasty. But of course a pre-made sauce is easy to make, you just heat it up and serve.
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Yes that's the whole point, easy!

But the point was how these pre made sauces can be used in different ways with different meats and different pasta.

There is also different brands, so you can get one from M&S and other ones, which i have not tried, so if anyone has tried them and has any easy dishes, then that is what i was after :D
 
anything I don't mind said:
I don't have a kitchen full of ingredients and don't cook fresh food enough to justifying buying spices and all sorts of random ingredients.

I am single so have to cook for myself every night after work and rarely want to spend a long time preparing food, this way pre made sauce are easy and often far more tasty than i could ever make sauce.
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All you need is salt, pepper, an onion and some garlic and you're half way there. You can keep 1/2 of some of these recipes and either freeze or use until the next day which means almost no preparation time.

Some of those pre-made sauces are filled with goodness knows what. I used to use pre-made sauces quite a bit until I realised how much nicer homemade is and how much cheaper it is (typically) too.
 
Strictly speaking if you fry off a little garlic and chilli in some olive oil then combine with a tin of quality tomatoes, it's a pasta sauce. I often use it for gnocci.
 
boxman2000 said:
All you need is salt, pepper, an onion and some garlic and you're half way there. You can keep 1/2 of some of these recipes and either freeze or use until the next day which means almost no preparation time.

Some of those pre-made sauces are filled with goodness knows what. I used to use pre-made sauces quite a bit until I realised how much nicer homemade is and how much cheaper it is (typically) too.
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This really make a a big batch and you got dinner sorted for the next couple of days.
 
anything I don't mind said:
I don't have a kitchen full of ingredients and don't cook fresh food enough to justifying buying spices and all sorts of random ingredients.

I am single so have to cook for myself every night after work and rarely want to spend a long time preparing food, this way pre made sauce are easy and often far more tasty than i could ever make sauce.
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That recipe I posted can be made as quickly as the pasta your cooking it with so its hardly long. It has 2 spices salt and pepper. It makes four but can easily be halved to make 2 and then you have 2 dinners for the effort of one. As for cost, I think the ingredients are less than the price of a premade sauce and it tastes way better. I haven't ever gone back to premade sauce since I discovered how easy it is to make my own.
 
I tend to agree, I'm single, I spend less than 30 minutes cooking start to finish and including washing up and making lunch for work the next day.

And it'll be properly fresh, like has been said, if I'm doing pasta my sauce will be done before the pasta is boiled. Cooking is as quick as you make it, like tonight I'm going to do garlic and herb pork chops, polenta and a tomato, olive and feta salad. It'll take me about 20 minutes to prepare, grate the garlic, add to herbs, and salt, rub on the chops and bosh them in a pan. Then stick the polenta in some boiling water.

While those two are doing their thing, slice up the salad and plate it (It's some roughly chopped tomatoes, jarred olives and cubes of feta, dress with oil and season), flip chops, stir polenta and season the **** off of it, wash up, by the time you've done that it'll be ready to plate. Leave the pans to soak while you eat and they'll take a couple of minutes to wash when you've eaten.

Also cheaper to do than premade crap. I don't find cooking for one really limits options for everyday meals at all.
 
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