Tag Archives: pasta

Penne with courgettes and balsamic vinegar (adult recipe)

Posted on July 2, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

As promised, this is the original cold pasta recipe I adapted for my toddler-friendly herby courgette pasta salad. I don’t want to be repetitive, but it really is a great summer meal, and I love how it can be made the day before. It’s great in lunch boxes, on picnics or as an easy weekend meal. I’ve made it countless times and will make it many more times!

I’ve made very few changes to the original recipe by Ann and Franco Taruschio. I increased the eggs (each person only gets 3 small wedges in the original) and eliminated putting ice in the pasta immediately after you drain it to stop it from cooking (I don’t think you need to do it).

If you make it ahead of time, take it out of the fridge about 30 minutes before you want to eat it so it can start to come to room temperature and taste better.

PENNE WITH COURGETTES AND BALSAMIC VINEGAR

Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Serves 4
Keeps in the fridge for a day

300g courgettes, cut in half lengthways, sliced fairly thickly
4 tbsp olive oil
1-3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bunch fresh basil, shredded
2 fresh mint sprigs, chopped, plus few leaves to garnish
3 eggs
250g penne
100g feta cheese, diced

Cook penne and drain it well (you can spread it out on tea towel to dry it if you want). Put pasta in a large bowl and dress with the remaining olive oil and a little balsamic vinegar.

Lower eggs into boiling water and cook for 10 minutes when water returns to the boil. Plunge into cold water and peel before cutting each into 6 wedges.

While pasta and eggs are cooking, heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan and add courgettes. Season and stir fry for a few minutes. Remove from heat, splash with about 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar, and add basil and mint. Leave to cool.

Add courgettes to the pasta, scatter over feta and mix. Garnish with the egg and the extra mint leaves. Serve cold.

Do you have any yummy cold pasta recipes to share?

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Posted in dinner, family, lunch, recipe and tagged Ann Taruschio, balsamic vinegar, basil, cold pasta, courgettes, egg, family, Franco Taruschio, mint, packed lunch, pasta, pasta salad, penne, picnic, recipe, vegetarian, zucchini. Bookmark the permalink.

Herby courgette pasta salad with feta and egg

Posted on July 1, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

I don’t want to overly bombard you with my apple sauce experiments, so it’s back to good old trusty pasta today.

I love the Sainsbury’s Little One’s site when they do recipes three-ways: for babies, for toddlers and for adults. For example for their creamy spinach and leek pancake bake (must try this) the filling is pureed for a baby, a toddler eats the recipe as is, and adults get a surprise of smoky ham inside. These recipes give me a renewed enthusiasm for cooking for Nicholas when my enthusiasm is lagging. They encourage me to experiment with my tried and tested recipes, working out more toddler-friendly versions of them. While I love making dishes everyone can eat, I really do love making meals just for Nicholas.

One of my ‘go to’ summer recipes is a cold pasta recipe I came across in The Times probably more than ten years ago. It’s an Ann and Franco Taruschio invention and I believe it’s in their 100 Great Pasta Dishes book (but don’t quote me on that). It’s a wonderfully fresh and filling dish, perfect to make the day before, perfect to take to work for lunch, and perfect to take on picnics or to have as a vegetarian option at a barbecue. I’ve made it a couple of times for my Italian in-laws and they love it (always a good sign!). I’ll write up that recipe tomorrow, but for now, here’s my toddler-friendly version of it.

I grated the courgette/zucchini to cut down the preperation time. However, next time I’ll dice it, as grated it sticks to itself and is difficult to separate, and Nicholas tends to pull large pieces of it from his mouth.

The original recipe uses penne and it really does need a short tube-shaped pasta. I used tubetti rigati which are like mini penne. You could also use macaroni or cut penne into shorter tubes after it’s cooked.

You can cook the egg and pasta in the same water, you just need to make a calculation based on the cooking time needed for the pasta you’re using. My tubetti rigati take 11 minutes to cook, so one minute after I put them into the boiling water I added the egg, cooking them together for 10 minutes before draining everything.

HERBY COURGETTE PASTA SALAD WITH FETA AND EGG

Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 15 mins
Makes 2 large toddler servings
Keeps for a day in the fridge

100g courgette / zucchini, finely grated
2 medium basil leaves, finely shredded
2 medium mint leaves, finely shredded
1 egg
50g tubetti rigati (or other small tubed pasta)
100g feta cheese
Drizzle of olive oil
Pinch of salt (optional)

Bring a small saucepan of water to the boil and gently lower the egg into it. Boil for 10 minutes. Plunge into cold water, peel and cut into 6 wedges. Cut each wedge in half.

Cook the pasta as directed on the packet. Drain and add a drizzle of olive oil to stop the pasta from sticking to itself. Put in a medium-sized bowl and cool in the fridge.

Squeeze the excess moisture from the grated courgette. In a small non-stick frying pan, cook the courgette for a couple of minutes over a medium heat. Take off the heat and stir in the basil and mint.

Add the herby courgette to the pasta. Mix in the feta and egg. Serve cold.

Variations:

chop the courgette into small cubes rather than grate it
add a splash of balsamic vinegar at the end

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Posted in dinner, lunch, recipe, toddler and tagged Anne Taruschio, basil, cold pasta, courgette, dinner, egg, feta, Franco Taruschio, lunch, mint, pasta, pasta salad, recipe, toddler, vegetarian, zucchini. Bookmark the permalink.

Super quick avocado pasta sauce

Posted on June 18, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

Another fast pasta sauce you can whip up really quickly for your little one. The creamy texture of avocado lends itself perfectly to coat pasta, and not just for babies. Add some more seasoning and a dash of chilli sauce and it’s a yummy dish for you.

I use a mini food processor to blend the avocado, simply to get a bit more creaminess by making it super smooth. However, whizzing up such a small amount can be a bit annoying (you have to keep scraping down the sides of the bowl to get the mixture back under the blades). You can mash the avocado up by hand and either use a bit of muscle to mash it up to a paste or leave the sauce a bit chunkier. The chunks anyway will be soft enough even for babies to easily munch through.

We incorporated some sensory play into our meal. Long cooked pasta like spaghetti isn’t just yummy, but also so much fun to play with!

SUPER QUICK AVOCADO PASTA SAUCE

Prep time: 5-10 mins
Cook time: 0 mins 🙂
Makes 1 toddler serving

1/2 avocado
1 large (or 2 medium) basil leaf, roughly chopped
Squeeze of lime (or lemon)

Scoop the flesh of the avocado into a mini food processor. Add the basil and lime. Blend until smooth.

Spoon over cooked pasta and mix to evenly coat.

Variations:

to make it even faster, omit the basil and lime
use coriander instead of basil
for adults add more seasoning and a dash of chilli sauce

Other uses:

spread on toast
use as a crepe filling
spoon over cooked chicken

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Posted in baby, dinner, family, lunch, recipe, toddler and tagged avocado, avocado pasta sauce, baby, basil, dairy-free, dinner, family, gluton-free, lemon, lime, lunch, pasta, pasta sauce, recipe, toddler, vegan, vegetarian. Bookmark the permalink.

Super easy and fast creamy spinach pasta sauce

Posted on June 9, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

This is one of the easiest meals to cook. Not counting the pasta you serve it over, there are two ingredients. Two. What could be more basic than that?!

I can’t remember where I came across this fabulous way of wilting spinach. It probably is just as quick to wilt it in a pan if I really think about it, but doing it this way feels like it’s much quicker. And you don’t have a pan to wash. Try it and if it seems quicker then that’s my time-saving tip for you for the day!

To keep it super easy and fast I haven’t weighed the spinach, just grabbed a handful. You could use any type of cream (double is what I had in the fridge) and the amount you use really depends on how creamy you want the sauce. Exact measurements aren’t important here. Just relax and go with your cooking instincts.

SUPER EASY AND FAST CREAMY PASTA SAUCE

Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 0 mins 🙂
Makes 1 toddler serving

1 large handful of fresh spinach
1-2 tbsp double cream

Fill up your kettle and turn it on. Put the spinach in a colander. Pour over half of the boiling water holding the colander over the sink. Push the spinach down with a spoon to drain it. Pour the rest of the boiling water over and drain as much as you can.

Chop the spinach and put it in a small bowl. Add 1 tbsp cream and mix to combine. Add more cream if you wish.

Serve over cooked pasta.

Variations: none this time because any variation I can think of makes this a bit more time-consuming and we don’t want that!

Other uses:

serve over rice
use as a crepe filling

Do you have any time-saving tips to share?

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Posted in dinner, lunch, recipe, tip, toddler and tagged cream, pasta, pasta sauce, spinach, vegetarian. Bookmark the permalink.

Leek and potato pasta sauce

Posted on May 23, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

I love French food. I really love French food. I love eating French food and I love cooking French food.

I have a well-worn French cookbook I bought in Australia and one of my favourite recipes from it (hubby’s too) is leek and potato soup. I adapted the recipe to make a soup for Nicholas (my adaptation was mainly omitting the large quantity of cream!) but he wasn’t very keen on it. I spooned it over pasta and he loved it. Leek and potato soup became leek and potato sauce.

You could cook the onion, celery and leek in the microwave to be quicker and/or to avoid the butter. 2-3 minutes on medium with a couple tablespoons of water should be fine. Try to dice the potato into the smallest cubes you can as it will cook quicker. If your finished soup is a bit too thick, add a dash of milk or cream.

LEEK AND POTATO PASTA SAUCE

Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 15-20 mins
Makes about 400ml
Freezable

1 leek, sliced and rinsed
1/4 onion, finely chopped
1/2 stick celery, cut lengthwise then sliced finely
1 tsp butter
1 medium potato, peeled and diced
1 cup water

Put the butter, onion, celery and leek in a medium-sized saucepan. Cook them gently over a med-low heat until the onion is opaque, and the celery and leek are softened (about 5 mins).

Add potato and the water and turn the heat up slightly to bring it to a light boil. Keep lightly boiling until the potatoes are cooked (about 10 mins depending on the size of your potatos).

Take off the heat and, if you have time, cool for a few minutes. Puree, and season if you wish.

Serve over cooked pasta.

Variations:

use stock (chicken or vegetable) instead of the water
cook some finely chopped garlic with the onion, celery and leek
garnish with fresh chives
add a dash of cream at the end for a richer sauce

Other uses:

add milk or cream to make a soup
add milk or formula and serve without the pasta for younger babies
serve over fish

Tip: leeks can have dirt stuck between their many layers which can sometimes be difficult to wash away. It’s more effective (and easier) to rinse them after you slice them. Put the slices in a colander or sieve and rinse under running water. Leave the leek to drain while you prepare the other vegetables.

Have you successfully adapted any of your favourite recipes for your baby?

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Posted in baby, dinner, lunch, recipe, toddler and tagged baby, celery, dinner, freezable, freeze, French, French cuisine, leek, lunch, onion, pasta, pasta sauce, potato, recipe, sauce, soup, toddler, vegetarian. Bookmark the permalink.

Creamy mushroom pasta sauce

Posted on May 21, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

Pasta. What child doesn’t love pasta? My Italian husband’s very happy that Nicholas absolutely adores pasta. And the amount of pasta Nicholas can eat in one sitting constantly amazes me. Lunch after his swimming class at the weekend was a chunk of lasagne at Carluccio’s, from their lovely children’s menu. A chunk of lasagne that looked like an adult’s portion. He didn’t eat all of it, but almost all of it!

While this isn’t a pasta sauce you’d make several servings of and freeze, you can whip it up very quickly in the microwave while the pasta is cooking.

CREAMY MUSHROOM PASTA SAUCE