Simple delicious pasta

[cherrypied]

The kind where you just "throw butter ans sage and black pepper" into a pan or a certain cheese/egg/ etc.

Or your best carbonara recipe.

Finely chop and gently fry a leek in butter/olive oil until softened. Add a splash or 2 of white wine, then some single cream and freshly ground black pepper. Throw in some chopped smoked salmon at the end. Delicious with spaghetti or linguine.

The swede carbonara recipe here is really good: anna-joness-swede-recipes

Fry off some pancetta or Parma ham until crispy. Set aside. Cook a sliced leek in the same pan with a chopped garlic clove. Put your pasta on to boil. Once the pasta’s almost ready, add a carton of single cream (I use a dairy free one) to the leeks and garlic, and put your pancetta back in. Stir. Add Parmesan. Drain the pasta and put it in. Mix it up and serve with more Parmesan on top. (You can use Philadelphia type cheese instead of the cream.)

We had the mushrooms and a chopped shallot and some garlic cooked down in olive oil, then a glass of wine and a splash of cream then chuck in cooked pasta with a ladle of the pasta water. Serve with a load of chopped parsley and Parmesan if you have/like it. So delicious!

Fry chopped garlic, steamed broccoli and chilli flakes in olive oil, at the end add cooked pasta and mix/fry.

Add parmesan or soft cheese at the end (I use vegan cheeses - like parmesan, cheddar or cream cheese). Salt and pepper.

Yum yum! Thanks all, I'm loving this thread!

This: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/gnocchi-recipe-chilli-oil-ruby-tandoh-b2177160.html
Heaven.

Courgette, cream and lardons (best if you fry the chopped courgettes on high first so they get blackened)

Smoked salmon, cream and peas (best if you slow fry a little chopped onion in it too, and add some dill)

Mushrooms, cream, garlic (just squash the garlic cloves and fry whole, don’t chop) parsley

Roasted red peppers (fry gently to get rid of any vinegar from the jar) and soft goats cheese, good with fresh herbs

Tomato, mascarpone, basil

Also find that fresh pesto (from the fridge section, not homemade!) is infinitely nicer than from a jar

Agree. We never get through a whole tub though, so I buy a tub and immediately freeze it into ice cubes. Takes 30 sec to defrost a few cubes of pesto in microwave.

Cherry toms/garlic/prawn/ optional parsley or basil

Anchovy/olives or olive tapenade/(tomatoes) /walnuts

Sundried tomato and broccoli

Peas, cheese, basil, Olive oil

Our busy-night pasta is a big chunk of soft goats cheese and a big pack of baby spinach leaves with seasoning and a little of the pasta water stirred through hot cooked pasta.

The slightly better version is bothering to caramelise an onion or two before hand to stir through with the goats cheese, and also add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and a grating of nutmeg.

Pasta, baby potatoes, green beans, pesto, Parmesan or vegetarian/vegan hard cheese and toasted pine nuts.

Very filling so you don't need to make a lot.

Not to hijack, but I don't get the cherry tomato thing. All those little skins clinging to the back of your front teeth. Ugh.

This was going to be my suggestion! I do the Miguel Barclay orzo version. So good!

Or just cooked pasta stirred into flavoured Philly.

Blitz an avocado with several bulbs of garlic, some pinenuts, fresh lemon juice, salt, pepper and olive oil.

When pasta if cooked, stir through the sauce. Delicious and filling.

This. I could eat this every day.

Filled mushroom pasta is delicious with just butter, finely chopped shallot and garlic, fresh sage or thyme, and truffle oil (yes a luxury but a £8 bottle lasts me about 6 months being drizzled 2-3 times a week)

For plain pasta I chop shallots (or onion) garlic, can anchovies, teaspoon capers,, teaspoon dried oregano, i/2 can chopped tomatoes, olive oil and simmer, add chopped parsley and cooked pasta and black pepper

A favourite in our house is spring onions and garlic fried in olive oil and butter. Add cooked pasta. Sprinkle with dried chilli, lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.

Homemade pesto is surprisingly easy. You just chuck pine nuts, garlic, parmesan, olive oil and greens (I like rocket best) in a blender. It freezes, too. I use roughly equal weights of pine nuts and parmesan, more greens and olive oil. As much garlic as suits you. Add a bit of salt and pepper if you want.

One of my favourites, defrost frozen spinach, keep the water.
Gently heat cream cheese, and blue cheese until melted and add spinach and water, add juice from half a lemon, stir through cooked spaghetti and serve with hot sauce, I use Frank's.
It's pretty cheap too if you use ingredients from the value range.