Cheap but delish dining ideas!
January can be a tight month for a lot of people and saving money is a priority. Food is always a huge factor when it comes to spending money and the discount supermarkets are busier than usual.
Over the years, I also have had to tighten the belt a few times but still wanted tasty food. I found pasta to be a great and inexpensive ingredient that offers itself to many varieties.
In 2016, I wrote a few recipes on my blog to showcase how different pasta can be by cooking different dishes for a week.
Spaghetti alio e olio
My to-go-to dish is spaghetti alio e olio; such a simple dish but yet so flavoursome.
Bring a pot of salted water to the boil and cook spaghetti according to the pack instructions. In the meantime, slice a few cloves of garlic (I use almost the entire bulb), heat some olive oil in a frying pan and add the garlic. Fry over low heat until the garlic becomes fragrant. Add sliced red chillies (amount is up to you and use dried chilli flakes if you don’t have fresh ones). Fry for a few minutes making sure that the garlic doesn’t burn (you really don’t want burnt garlic as it tastes nastier than school dinner porridge). I also like to add pinenuts but that is optional. Just before the end, add chopped fresh parsley.
Drain the cooked pasta and add it to the frying pan with a bit of the pasta water. Stir to combine nicely and sprinkle over some grated parmesan. Trust me, it is utterly tasty.
Pasta arrabiata
Keeping it a bit on the spicy side, pasta arrabiata is a delicious dish and so easy to make. 250g passata, 2 cloves of garlic or more (crushed), 1 tbsp tomato paste, 150ml dry white wine, red chilies (depends on how spicy you like it), salt & pepper, pinch of sugar (great to bring out the full flavour of the passata), cooked pasta for 2 (cooked according to packaging instructions), Parmesan cheese, fresh basil.
Place the passata, garlic, tomato paste and wine in a pan. Make a cut into the chilies (you can also chop them if you like it more spicy) and add to the pan. Over a medium heat, bring the tomato sauce to the boil. Season to taste and add a pinch of sugar. In the meantime, cook the pasta according to the package instructions. Remove the chili (if you haven’t chopped them into the sauce), drain the pasta.
Serve the pasta and sauce in a bowl, sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan and fresh basil. As good as you would get it in a restaurant.
Stuffed pasta shells
Stuffed pasta shells are also easy to make but slightly pricier due to the ricotta and mozzarella but shop around for some offers.
You will need large pasta shells (about 4-5 per person, depending on how hungry they are, 300g ricotta, large bunch of fresh basil, shredded, 80g parmesan cheese, grated, 300g mozzarella, shredded/grated, 350g tomato passata, 1 tsp tomato paste, seasoning.
Cook the pasta shells just al dente (less time than instructed on the package), the pasta will cook in the oven again, so make sure not to overcook them. Drain and set aside to cool slightly. Preheat your oven to 160C.
In a bowl, mix the ricotta cheese with the basil, parmesan cheese and 100g of the mozzarella. Season to taste. Mix the tomato paste into the passata. Cover the bottom of an oven-proof dish with some of the sauce (prevents the shells from sticking to the bottom). Carefully stuff the pasta shells with the ricotta mix (you can also use a piping bag, less messy). Place the shells in the oven-proof dish, spoon over the sauce and sprinkle the rest of the mozzarella on top.
Bake for about 25 mins until piping hot and the mozzarella on top has melted and slightly browned. Or try meatballs in tomato sauce, fried mushrooms with a cream sauce or simply stir some pesto through the pasta.
Your imagination is the only limitation!