Alice's Spinach, Butternut Squash and Cheese Pasta Bake

This was a great university staple of ours, Alice was the one who came up with the recipe and every time she cooked it we'd crowd around the living room eagerly awaiting it's arrival. Speaking from experience, everyone will go back for second helpings, so it's advised to make lots, and lots of this.

*
Ingredients to feed about 4 (these quantity are suggestions, add more or less if you'd like.)
Pasta - 1 packet
Grated parmesan cheese - a generous handful
1 pack of St Agur cheese, another soft cheese such as brie will also work.
Creme fraiche- about 2 tbsps
1 packet / bunch of spinach
1 butternut squash
Nutmeg
1 generous handful of bread crumbs.

Start by roasting the butternut squash so that it's really soft, this will take about 30 minutes at 180 in the oven.
Cook the pasta until al dente and drain it, this should take about 10 minutes.
Add all of the other ingredients to the pasta - cut the cheese into small chunks and toss it in, along with the parmesan, creme fraiche, spinach, and butternut squash. Add a good grating of nutmeg and transfer to an oven proof dish. Sprinkle the brad crumbs on top and cook for about 20 minutes at 160, or until the crumbs have gone golden brown.
*Our photo wasn't up to scratch, this one is from melskitchencafe.com

Autumnal Pasta

This Nigel Slater recipe is perfect for welcoming Autumn. It's very simple to make and the earthiness makes it perfect for a gloomy evening when the temperatures start to drop a little. A glass of red wine would also be a great accompaniment - an excellent antidote to low spirits.

Ingredients to serve 3 very greedy people, or 4 bird-like eaters: (Nigel gives exact measurements - but ball park estimates work fine..)

A generous couple of handfuls of chestnut mushrooms - very thinly sliced
A generous knob of butter (about 25g)
A slick of olive oil
Lots of parsley - chopped finely
Lots of grated Parmesan cheese
2 cloves of garlic - thinly sliced
400g pasta (Fusilli has been used here because it was all there was in the cupboard, it was very nice, tagliatelle would have been very good.)

The make:
Melt the butter and olive oil and cook the mushrooms very slowly over a low heat for about 15mins.
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil - and cook your pasta for about 12mins, or whatever the packet tells you.
Meanwhile, continue cooking your mushrooms and season them as well as adding the garlic to cook at the same time as the pasta.
When the pasta has cooked, drain it, and add it to the mushrooms, butter and garlic. Add the parsley and Parmesan cheese. Let it sit on the stove for a couple of minutes longer then serve into big bowls.

An Italian Birthday Feast

Our birthdays both fall around mid-summer and this year we were celebrating 22. So we prepared a small feast for friends with an Italian meal. Such a special occasion always calls for a special meal, but we also kept simplicity in mind. With so much sparkly eye-shadow to apply, time was not on our side, not that we wanted to spend too much time sweating in an unforgiving kitchen anyway!

So, this is what we planned: something special and something light. Perfect for a midsummer pair of birthday celebrations for a handful of friends..


Cocktails to start:
Strawberry Bellini's -Inspired by Jamie Oliver, mostly.
Push a punnet of strawberries through a sieve.
Spoon into the bottom of glasses and pour over Prosecco (Cava will also do fine.)

Tomato and Mozzarella Salad -
Inspired by Grace's recent holiday to Sorrento.
This couldn't be simpler or more delicious.
Cut a generous amount of tomatoes into nice wedges and place in your serving bowl.
Tear two balls of mozzarella into rough chunks.
Dress with olive oil, salt, pepper and a sprinkling of dried herbs.

Roasted Pepper bruschetta -
Inspired by Carllucio.
De-seed and roughly chop your peppers and place under a hot grill until the skins char. Once they are cool enough to handle, remove their skins and slice into small pieces.
Cut some good bread (sourdough was used here) into slices and toast under the grill. Chop a tomato. Once the bread has toasted, assemble the pepper and scraps of tomato over the bread and season with salt, pepper, olive oil and dried herbs if you wish.

Rustic Pesto Pasta -

Inspired by Grace's mother.
Easier than blending and better than from a jar, this rustic pesto is incredibly fresh.

Heat a generous amount of olive oil and simmer some garlic in there so that it flavours the oil, in the meantime, tear lots of basil leaves into shreds (the more the better,) and place into a bowl. Add some (ready toasted) pine nuts to the basil and grate lots of Parmesan cheese. When the oil is sufficiently garlic-y, discard the garlic bulbs and combine everything together. Season with salt and pepper and leave to happily sit until you are ready.

Cook the pasta as the packet tells you and once drained, add the rustic pesto sauce. Serve with a few too many glasses of wine than necessary.

Lemon, Asparagus and Parmesan Pasta

This is another great summery dish. This is a light pasta dish which is full of lots of good things. Perfect if you are feeling a little heavy after a weekend/week of excess or too much stress. Asparagus is full of great things, like folic acid, fibre and potassium. It's only around for a few weeks of the year, so make sure you get it while you can!

Ingredients (to serve four)
500g of pasta
Generous knob of butter
Dash of olive oil
1 large leek
2 bunches of asparagus
2 crushed cloves of garlic
1 lemon (zest and juice)
Generous handful of chopped parsley
Parmesan cheese, grated.
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method (it's very easy...)
1. Fry the leeks in the butter over a very low heat for about 30mins, slow cooking allows them to go all nice and creamy, but make sure they don't burn!
2. Add the asparagus and garlic and cook for about 5mins
3. Take off the heat and add the lemon juice, parsley, olive oil and season.
4. In the meantime cook your pasta and when it's done, stir it into the leek and asparagus mixture.
5. Serve with a generous amount of Parmesan cheese.

Pasta with Cream and Smoked Salmon

This is a close variation of our trusty original hangover dish - this version is just as bolstering and just as easy; but is a little more fancy. It's perfect after a long week or a hard day, but since the salmon is incredibly rich this is not the most hangover-friendly meal. This is for when you are in need of a vital pick me-up after a day of stress, not a night of too much booze!

Ingredients for four: (The measurements are mere suggestions, it's an easy to throw to together pasta with wonderful results, it's very hard to get wrong.)

500g pasta (fusilli or farfalle are recommended)
100 ml double cream (or just enough to coat the pasta, not so it's swimming.)
1 onion
Handful of chopped cherry tomatoes
1 packet of smoked salmon cut into small cubes (scissors are the easist cutting tool for this)
Handful of fresh basil
Oil to fry and pepper to season.

To cook:
Cook the pasta for 12mins in a pan of salty water.
Dice the onion and gently sweat it in the oil while the pasta cooks.
Drain the pasta and return to it's pot along with the onions and any residule olive oil.
Add the cream, chopped cherry tomatoes and salmon. Heat through until hot and season generoulsy with pepper.
Stir the basil through at the last minute and serve.

Pasta for a Fresh Spring Day:

Another Jamie Oliver recipe - Farfelle Carbonara with peas and mint.

This pasta is perfect for a warm Spring day - it is one that provides all the comfort of a good old pasta dish whilst being light on the stomach and fresh tasting. It's the kind of pasta dish that will give you a spring in your step, rather than weigh you down - plus mint is supposed to be great for complextion and digestion.
This dish is best served in a big bowl in the middle of a table (preferably outside) so it can be meandered through at whichever pace pleases you...


Ingredients: (Enough to serve 4)
500g Farfelle pasta
1 Egg
100ml double cream (single will also do.)
1 packet of pancetta OR sliced bacon of course.)
3 handfuls of peas (frozen or fresh, certainly NOT tinned.)
2/3 handfuls of fresh chopped mint (absolutely necassary)

To Cook:
Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and add the pasta - cook for 12mins.
In the meantime, fry your pancetta/bacon until golden and crispy. Then, mix the cream and egg together - and season with salt and pepper.
When the pasta is nearly cooked, add the peas. (Cook for about 2mins if fresh, 4mins if frozen)
Drain the water from the pasta and peas the return to their pot and add the pancetta and most of the mint - stir together.
Whilst the pasta is still very hot, add the cream/egg mixture - quickly stirring.
Garnish with the remainder of the mint.

Springtime Pasta

I made this when I was craving something fresh-tasting and reasonably healthy; it is incredibly straightforward - just roasted peppers, onions in a tomato sauce and topped with kalamata olives and fresh chopped parsley. I always uses fusilli but of course this would be great with spagetti or whatever really...

Ingredients:

3x fresh peppers (for colour I love the orange, red and yellow ones - green peppers tend to be bitter)

1 x red onion

1 x tin of chopped tomatoes: preferably a good brand as this is such a frugal dish anyway

500g fusilli pasta (enough for three people in this case - one must allow enough for a proper gorge!)

A generous scattering of kalamata olives

Likewise fresh parsley

A dash of dried oregano

Likewise Lea and Perrins

Salt and pepper

GOOD olive oil to grill peppers and fry onion in

To prepare and cook:

Put three or four peppers on a tray with a generous amount of olive oil and place under the grill until the skins are charred enough to remove; slice into chunky slithers and put to one side. Slowly fry an onion before adding a tin of chopped tomatoes, followed by the peppers. Season with a good shake of dried oregano, sea salt and pepper. Reduce the sauce until it has thickened - add the olives and a swish of lea and perrins worchestire sauce, and finally throw on the parsley. When the pasta has cooked, drain and throw it into the sauce pan, before mixing it together; and voila!

The Original Hangover Dish

This recipe is one which we have come to love and perfect over weeks of nights out. A firm favourite and a hangover staple, this pasta dish will leave you with a clearer head and content stomach.

G was the first to read about this comforting meal on a blog. It was a firm favourite when she cooked a big batch of it to feed hungry housemates one windy night in November. But it was on a Sunday after a heavy night that we realised just how special this dish was. Upon being separated in the supermarket I came across G, in a hunched stance staring blankly at the pasta. Calling her name, she stood to attention with urgency and a snore-like sound; she was dangerously close to falling asleep in the pasta aisle. To make matters worse, there was also a jilted love interest of G's hot on our heals and a dissertation advisor circling the shop. We were keen to get out of there and back to the stove.

I'm fairly certain that the meal was followed by cups of 'Roobios tea' and three hours of 'Dr Zhivago.' We may have also gobbled down a couple of slices of chocolate cake, the recipe for which we shall include later..

Tomato and Cream Pasta -

Ingredients:
Fresh tomatoes (ideally cherry)
Cream, (double or single, it doesn't matter)
Onion, (shallots are preferable)
Bacon,
Fresh Basil to garnish
Dried chilli
Salt & pepper

Splash of Red wine vinegar
Pasta (fusilli is recommended)

Enjoy. For original recipe see onceuponacakestand

For a more simple (and cheaper) version, the tomatoes, cream and pasta will suffice.