I enjoy cooking in as much as I love eating and I love the satisfaction of serving up a home cooked meal to my family. I’m no cordon bleu chef though, and the only times i’ve tried anything remotely fancy or even vaguely unrecognisable, my hours of slaving over a stove have been rewarded with a ‘I’m not eating that’ from the kids - not the reaction I’d hoped for.
So rather than take the path of least resistance and offer them plain pasta and tuna or an omelette (they both like different things just to make things even more complicated, but these are what my girls would eat everyday if I let them) I thought I’d share with you some winners - the recipes that are quick, tasty and crowd pleasers!
picture credit: Jamie Oliver
Jamie Oliver's easy sausage carbonara from his 5 Ingredients book is one of our family mid week staple meals
I use this book all the time, and this recipe is a favourite with the girls. Its a great camping recipe too.
Ingredients
- 150 g dried tagliatelle
- 3 higher-welfare sausages
- ½ a bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley (15g)
- 1 large free-range egg
- 30 g Parmesan cheese
- 150 g dried tagliatelle
- 3 higher-welfare sausages
- ½ a bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley (15g)
- 1 large free-range egg
- 30 g Parmesan cheese
Method
- Cook the pasta in a pan of boiling salted water according to the packet instructions, then drain, reserving a mugful of cooking water.
- Meanwhile, squeeze the sausagemeat out of the skins, then, with wet hands, quickly shape into 18 even-sized balls.
- Roll and coat them in black pepper, then cook in a non- stick frying pan on a medium heat with ½ a tablespoon of olive oil until golden and cooked through, tossing regularly, then turn the heat off.
- Finely chop the parsley, stalks and all, beat it with the egg and a splash of pasta cooking water, then finely grate and mix in most of the Parmesan.
- Toss the drained pasta into the sausage pan, pour in the egg mixture, and toss for 1 minute off the heat (the egg will gently cook in the residual heat).
- Loosen with a good splash of reserved cooking water, season to perfection with sea salt and pepper, and finely grate over the remaining Parmesan.