How to Make Pasta Salad

Pasta salad has long been a favourite summer side dish of mine. It’s full of rich tomato flavour, but it’s light enough to eat even on the hottest days!

You will need:

• a sharp knife
• a chopping board
• 2 saucepans

and the ingredients (for four portions):

• A little oil
• 1 onion
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• mixed herbs
• basil
• pasta

Start by placing your larger saucepan on a gentle heat. Add a little oil (less than a teaspoon is fine), and dice your onion. (You can find more detailed instructions here: onion)

Add your onion to the pan, along with a generous sprinkle of mixed herbs and basil. (A little dried garlic also helps add to the flavour.)

Gently fry the onion until it becomes translucent, and a slightly golden colour. (A little splash of vinegar can help speed up this stage.)

Add your tinned tomatoes. (Remember to wash out the tin with a little water so as not to waste any.)

Heat your sauce to a gentle simmer (a constant, quiet bubble), and let it bubble away while you cook your pasta. (If you’re not sure how to tell when your pasta’s cooked, check out last week’s post here.)

Taste your sauce. The great thing about this sauce is that you can cook it really quickly and keep the flavours of the individual ingredients, or cook it long and slow so it all blends together. (Just make sure to put a lid on it, and make sure it doesn’t dry out.) I usually cook it for about 20 minutes, then add a little tomato puree (or ketchup) for richness.

Once you’re satisfied with your sauce, mix together the sauce and pasta. You could also add some chopped olives or pickles, if you want.

And it’s ready to serve! Perfect for picnics and barbecues!

This is quite a simple recipe, so it’s a great one to experiment with! Why not try adding paprika or chilli along with the herbs, or adding some bell peppers in with the chopped tomatoes?

If you make pasta salad with this recipe, I’d love to see a picture of your finished dish!

How to Cook Pasta

Pasta is a popular and versatile source of carbohydrates, and once you know how it’s easy to cook too!

Pasta comes in all sorts of different shapes and colours, both fresh and dried. But all types of pasta are made from the same basic ingredients, so you can apply the same principles to cooking them.

 

Dried pasta is easier to store and transport, so it’s more common and cheaper than fresh pasta.

Start by measuring a portion of pasta. You can use your hands for this – the amount of dried pasta you can grab in a handful is one portion for you. (Remember: if you’re cooking for people who are bigger or smaller than you, their portion sizes will be different!) It often won’t look like enough when you first put it in the saucepan, but as the pasta cooks it absorbs water and expands.

Place your pasta in a saucepan and cover it with water. (Starting with hot water from a kettle will cook your pasta slightly faster, but cold water works fine too.) Your pasta does need to be fully submerged, but using as little water as you can saves time and energy.

Put a lid on your saucepan and heat it on the hob. Keep an eye on it so that it doesn’t boil over. Once it’s boiling (big bubbles in the water), turn the heat down to a nice simmer (small, regular bubbles in the water), and make a note of the time. The pasta packet should give you a cooking time, but generally small pasta like macaroni take as little as 5 minutes, while larger pasta shapes can take up to 20.

As dried pasta cooks, it goes from being slightly translucent to opaque, and becomes soft. To check pasta is cooked all the way through, cut (or bite) a piece in half. If it’s soft and the same colour all the way through, it’s cooked.

 

Fresh pasta is a little trickier, both to store and to cook. Because it hasn’t been dried out, fresh pasta cooks more quickly. However, the changes in colour and texture are harder to spot, so it’s easier to overcook fresh pasta.

(If you really want to push the boat out, you could try making your own pasta from scratch. It’s not as complicated as it sounds, but it’s still a bit beyond the scope of this blog!)

 

Once your pasta is cooked, you can mix it with a sauce*, herby pesto, or just a splash of oil and a sprinkle of salt. Pasta is great in a huge range of dishes, but for warm weather my favourite is a tomatoey pasta salad!

*(You can cook pasta in a sauce, but it will take a little longer than in water.)

How to Make Savoury Mince

The dish we call savoury mince in our house is super versatile. It’s quite similar to bolognese, but with subtle variations you can turn it into, chilli con carne, lasagna, or cottage pie!

You will need:

• a sharp knife
• a chopping board
• a wok or deep saucepan with lid

and the ingredients (for four people):

• A little oil
• 2 medium onions
• 500g beef, lamb, or Quorn mince (a.k.a. ground meat)
• 1 bell pepper
• 2-3 carrots
• tinned chopped tomatoes
• tomato puree
• frozen peas or spinach
• mixed herbs
• salt

Start by placing your pan on a gentle heat. Add a little oil (less than a teaspoon is fine), and dice your onion. (You can find more detailed instructions here: onions)

Add your onion to the pan, along with a generous sprinkle of mixed herbs. (I often also add a little bit of garlic, but you don’t have to.)

Next, add your mince. Stir everything together, and break up any clumps of mince that are sticking together.

Dice your pepper (you can find the tutorial here: pepper), then add it to the pan.

Grate your carrots. (Remember to leave the top on to use as a handle while grating – you can find more tips in last week’s tutorial here.)

Add your grated carrot to the pan, followed by a tin of tomatoes. To make sure you’re not wasting any tomato-y goodness, rinse out the tin with a splash of water.

Mix everything together, and put the lid on. This helps the pan heat up quicker, and keeps the moisture in.

After 5-10 minutes, add a generous dollop of tomato puree. This makes the sauce richer; if you don’t have tomato puree you can use ketchup instead.

Your dish is nearly done, so make sure to taste your sauce. If it tastes like it’s lacking something, try adding a little salt or some more tomato puree.

Five minutes before serving, add your frozen peas or spinach to the pan.

Make sure to mix everything together before serving!

This version of savoury mince is perfect with pasta. But if you have any leftovers, it also makes great nachos!

Remember, this recipe is only a base, so feel free to play around with it! Try adding chilli or paprika to spice it up a little, or using some different herbs. You could add a tin of beans along with the peas, either to complement or replace the mince. Or you could try using different vegetables – why not add some mini broccoli florets, or even try parsnip instead of carrot?

If you make savoury mince with this recipe, I’d love to see a picture of your finished dish!