Quick, easy and delicious last minute cooking for friends

After a crazy weekend of food and wine with my sister visiting me in London for her birthday, I had very little time to prepare a meal for the girls on Sunday evening.  Having left my sister at the train station in the afternoon, I had just three and a half hours to get back to the flat, decide what to cook, make a trip to the supermarket, clean the flat, set the table and get cooking!!!

So, here is my idea for a quick, sociable and very very tasty dish, which maximises your time spent with friends, rather than in the kitchen!  Trust me…it never fails to impress!

Laura’s Italian Meats Pasta Bake

 

I confess to a few cheats on Sunday, with a shop bought garlic ciabatta to start and a less than complimentary apple crumble and custard for dessert (what can I say, I had very little time to clean the flat and cook) but the main dish was all me. 

Now, you may be thinking, pasta? Really? But I think pasta dishes get a bad name.  Yes, I admit, I was hosting old university friends for dinner, so pasta is nostalgic for us but pasta can be fantastically satisfying and scrumptious too!  This recipe will prove exactly those things…

Ingredients

400g of penne pasta (weight before cooked)

80g sliced chorizo

50g sliced salami

150-200g of sliced prosciutto (to cover the dish)

1 jar of white sauce (or equivalent homemade if you have time)

1 bag (350/400g) of grated mature cheddar cheese

1 large red onion

1 yellow, 1 red and 1 green pepper

3 cloves of garlic

1 can of chopped tomatoes

Pinch of fresh oregano

Pinch of fresh basil

2 tbsp of olive oil

2 tbsp of table salt

Preparation

1)    Place the pasta into a large saucepan.  Cover with water and add the salt.  Bring the pasta to boil then leave to cook for approximately 10 minutes on a medium heat.  Keep trying the pasta and stop cooking before it becomes too soft and sticky.  Once cooked, remove the pasta from the heat.  Drain the pasta and rinse it thoroughly in a colander with cold water.  Put back into the saucepan and set to one side.

2)    Slice the red onion horizontally to create circles around the size of a £1 coin in width.  Then, slice the circles in half.  Finely chop the garlic.  Heat the oil in the pan on medium to high heat.  Once the oil is hot, drop in the garlic until fragrant.  Add the onion and sauté until the onion is almost cooked.

3)    Slice the peppers into strips around the width of a £1 coin.  Add these to the pan with the onions and garlic for 2-3 minutes, stirring continuously.  Reduce the heat to medium and allow the vegetables to cook for a further 5 minutes.

4)    Add the chopped tomatoes to the pan and reduce the sauce on a medium heat.  Stir in the oregano and basil.  When the excess juice has reduced from the pan roughly chop in the chorizo and salami.  Stir and continue to cook on a medium heat for a further 5 minutes.

5)    Pour the sauce over the pasta and stir until the sauce is evenly distributed around the pasta.

6)    Pour the pasta into a large ceramic or stoneware baking dish and spread evenly.  Place the prosciutto slices across the pasta so it is entirely covered.  Pour on the white sauce and cover the dish.  Evenly sprinkle the grated cheese across the entire dish.

7)    Leave to rest until your friends are due to arrive.  It will take 30-40 minutes to bake at around 180°c.  Finish for 1-2 minutes under a high heat grill to brown the cheese.

8)    Serve the pasta bake to the table in the baking dish for an impressive look and let your friends dig in!

The tipple

I teamed this dish with a French bottle of red wine…Beaujolais Cuvee des Vignerons, which was light and easy drinking.  It complimented the light white and cheese sauce on the dish and was not overpowered by the strong flavours in the meats.  It was a snip at £5.99 (on offer in Waitrose – photograph taken from Waitrose website).

Total cost = around £25 (including a bottle of red, a lot of left-over meat and a pasta bake which could easily feed 6-8 people - I'll be eating it for my work lunch all this week!!)

I forgot to take a picture of the final product but I can assure you it was thoroughly enjoyed!!!

Happy cooking!  If you try Laura’s Italian Meats Pasta Bake do leave your thoughts.