Cappellacci Pasta with tomato sauce and boiled vegetables.

Cappellacci is pasta made from durum wheat flour in a shape that reminds you of a well worn sunhat. This pasta swells considerably with cooking and tastes great with a spicy tomato sauce. I love this dish as it is such a healthy dish and such a favourite with my son. I tend to make pasta, pasta sauce and boiled vegetables all separately to enable everyone in the family to add whatever they like to their pasta


Ingredients for 4 servings:

3 cups Cappellacci Pasta
6-8 cups of blended tinned tomatoes or smooth Passata sauce
2 tablespoons Olive oil
2-3 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon oregano
3-4 cloves of blended garlic
1 teaspoon of blended ginger
1 medium onion
2-3 fresh green chillies
3 bowls of any boiled vegetables (we chose cauliflower, baby carrots, peas and green string beans)
2-3 bowls of gratted cheddar cheese
Plus any condiments you like such black pepper, crushed red chillies etc…


Method:

The timing of this is important as you don’t want to overcook your pasta:

1. Take one tablespoon of olive oil in a saucepan and heat it.

2. Add the salt, garlic, ginger to the tomato sauce and add it to the oil once it’s heated up.

3. Allow this tomato sauce to simmer away. Once cooked, add the oregano to it before serving. (For those of you who like hot and spicy food, you can add chilly powder or green chillies to the sauce when it is simmering.)

4. In a separate saucepan, add one teaspoon of salt to a litre of water and boil your vegetables until cooked.

5. Boil a litre of water in a large saucepan and add teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of olive oil to it.

6. Add the cappellacci pasta to it and cook it according to the instructions on the packet. Mine asked for it to be cooked for 5-7 minutes.

7. Chop the tomatoes and green chillies finely.

8. Once the pasta is cooked, drain and get ready to serve it.

9. Drain the bolied vegetables too.

10. Pour the tomato sauce over the pasta, serve the vegetables separately or on top of the tomato sauce topped with onions, green chillies and grated cheese plus any condiments you enjoy..

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Penne Pasta bake

This is a very healthy and easy to make recipe – perfect for dinner or lunch.   What I like about this recipe is that you don’t even need to add any oil to it.

Ingredients to serve 4 people

6 cups of Penne or Fusilli Pasta
6 cups of Passata ( you can use tinned tomatoes but will need more as the sauce will not be as thick as Passata)
7-8 cloves of fresh garlic
1 onion
1 teaspoon salt for the pasta sauce and one for the pasta.
Pepper to taste
2-3 cups of grated cheddar and mozarella cheese
1 teaspoon of oregano

Method:

1. Blend the passata, onions and garlic and heat the sauce.

2. Add the salt and pepper.

3. Once heated, let it simmer gently.

4. This basic sauce can be made ahead and frozen too to use anytime you cook pasta or spaghetti.  If you like hot and spicy pasta, you can add fresh green chillies to the sauce.   You can also add some vegetables to the sauce if you wish to. 

5. Whilst the sauce is heating up, boil 1-2 litres of water with a teaspoon of salt. You need enough water to enable you to cover the pasta and allow it to boil.

6. Once boiled, add the pasta to the water.

7. Once the pasta has cooked, add it to the sauce and transfer to an oven proof dish.

8. Sprinkle with cheese and oregano.

9. Cover the dish with aluminium foil and cook in the middle of the oven at 150 degrees for 20 minutes.

10. Serve pasta with fresh salad.

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