Pasta joke! - quick easy lunch recipe inspirations please :)

[Wineorcider]

Hi there !

Well, about a month ago, Tesco delivered us a mahoosive bag of fusilli pasta as a substitution of the size we wanted. No matter how much we use, the bag doesn't seem to be going down! There is only a certain amount of tuna pasta bake we can cope with before we grow fins! ....


I'm thinking of using some up for work lunches and soups, so I need inspiration please, lunches I can do the night before, nice easy tasty and quick. Any ideas please?

MTIA

[zipzap]

I do a quick pasta basil cream for ds1 that he adores (and I do double pasta then the sauce only takes a minute so make it fresh each time, means a very quick supper available the next day).
Anyhow...
For one person - scale up as required:
Into a bowl put a couple of heaped teaspoons of pesto, a few drips of lemon juice, a good squirt of garlic purée and a really good slug of double cream (or you could use ricotta or mascapone or Boursin) instead.
Then bung it into the microwave, zap until it bubbles (40-60 seconds in my microwave usually). Give it a stir then spoon the pasta into the bowl (I make it in the pasta bowl that I serve it to ds), toss it all together and serve.

It's a very flexible recipe - just tweak it to taste, add different herbs, swap pesto for tomato purée or chilli sauce etc, add a splash of wine or sherry (obviously that's for me not ds!) - just make sure there's enough to coat the pasta.

It's also good as a base sauce for adding other stuff - I like it with chopped ham or bacon and bits of green veg (peas, broccoli florets, brussel sprouts etc) but pretty much anything would work. And they can be cooked fresh or leftovers, the latter making it very quick and different from the original.

[Wineorcider]

Sounds good zip, will try that thanks

[ElleDubloo]

I clicked on this thread because I thought you were going to tell us a joke about pasta

But now that I'm here...

For something quick and easy, I mix pasta with:
a) either a jar of ready-made sauce, or tinned tomatoes and some herbs
plus b) ready-made meatballs, or sauteed chicken breast strips, or mince beef
plus c) frozen peas or other vegetables

Pasta is always a good base for salads. I like to add cherry tomatoes (halved) or sun-dried tomatoes, tuna, leftover chicken pieces, olives, capers, any sort of cheese, romaine lettuce, rocket, balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar, ... basically anything I fancy eating.

[AnimatedDad]

it will last forever, and personally Im not keen on cold or reheated pasta. it tends to go stodgy and waterlogged or harden back to its precooked state...

but for hot pasta dishes, I've never met anyone who didn't like macaroni cheese (I usually use fusili for that). its also pretty good for leftovers of all kinds. I've made quick meals by mixing pasta into everything ng from rocket salad to oxtail stew.

[dreamingofsun]

chicken pasta bake - cooked chicken in white or cheese sauce with maybe peas or sweetcorn, mixed with cooked pasta and put in oven for 20 mins, maybe with gratin - cheese/breadcrumbs on top.

beef strips, onions, peppers, oregano, garlic, sauted for a bit. tin on toms and water and beef gravy granules added with teaspoon or so of sugar. cook for about 30 mins then put on top of cooked pasta in baking dish, put grated cheese on top and grill - you don't need to bother with last bit if feeling lazy

[Wineorcider]

Mmmmm, some of these sound great, thanks all :)

[addictedtosugar]

One of those 3kg bags? We get through one in about 3 months.
Fusilli bologanese, carbonara, with a tomatoey sauce and prawns thrown in at the last minute, use up left over gammon or turkey after Christmas in a bake.