Pasta and Meatballs - A Student Meal

I made this one Tuesday night for my family. It's really simple but incredibly tasty and not too tight in the pocket :D - an added bonus!!

Almost ready to be served :D

It's really not that hard. To serve 5, you'll need;

• an onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 x packets of pre-formed meatballs (each containing 16 meatballs)
• one jar of tomato sauce
• tbsp tomato puree 
• 5 fresh basil leaves
• 500g pasta
• pinch of salt 

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a wok
2. Dice the onion and add to the pan
3. Fry until brown and then thinly slice the garlic cloves and add
4. Boil a full kettle of water 
5. Empty the pasta in a deep empty pan
6. Once the kettle has boiled, pour over the water until just covered and another tbsp of oil to it
7. leave to boil on a meduim heat
8. Meanwhile, put the meatballs into the onions and garlic and fry until completely browned and golden in some parts

The partially cooked meatball

9. Once cooked, mix with the tomato puree and then the sauce

10. Bring to the boil and season with a pinch of salt and pepper

11. Take the pasta off the heat and add a pinch of salt

12. Finely, cut the basil leaves and place in the meatball sauce

drain the pasta and serve

13. Turn off the meatballs and pour over the top

14. Serve

The good thing about this meal is that the meatballs stay lovely and moist and the sauce is very thick. Also, because the balls are beef, you should need to worry about them being cooked all the way through to avoid food poisoning as you do with chicken.   

BBQ Birthday

I turned 18 on the 8th of April this year and never got round to having a party because I was busy (celebrating with my family, doing revision and heading to a metallica concert!) But I finally got round to holding a pool party with many of my closest friends.
I made a couple of things to eat because everyone loves a BBQ with LOADS of food (especially me because I love left overs - though, 3 days later, I am a bit sick of eating couscous and kebabs).



I made;

• roasted vegetable couscous
• vegetable rice
• tomato and mozzarella pasta salad
• lettuce salad
• potato salad
• vegetable skewers (aubergine, courgette - yellow and green - mushrooms and peppers)
• strawberry pavlova
• mascapone cheesecake
• lemon and blackcurrant Victoria sponge 
• trifle (made by my mum)

Strawberry Pavlova;
(serves 8)
Pre-heat oven to 150 degrees C. Whisk 3 egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually, tablespoon by tablespoon, whisk in 175g caster sugar, beating well after each addition. Separately, combine a teaspoon of cornflour with a teaspoon of vinegar. Add this to the egg white mixture. Line a baking dish with parchment paper and spread 2 tablespoons of the mixture into an even circle in the middle. Dollop consecutive tablespoons around the edge until the circle is complete. Turn the oven temperature down to 140 degrees and bake for 55 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool. Whip 300ml cream and dollop all in the middle. Decorate with strawberry halves and serve.

Vegetable Rice;
(serves 6)
Steam 500g basmati rice in boiling water in a pan over the hob for 10 mins (with the lid of the pan on). Remove the lid and pour in 200g frozen chooped vegetables and return to steam for 5 mins. Serve.

(For left-overs my mum made egg fried rice with this;
Pour the rice into a warm frying pan. Crack an egg or two - depending on amount of rice - into the middle and stir until the egg is cooked and mixed into the rice. Serve)

Vegetable Couscous;
(Serves 6)
Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees C. Dice 1/2 a large aubergine, 1 orange bell pepper and 1 red pepper. Pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a baking dish and then pour in the cut vegetables. Bake for 20 minutes until the vegetable look slightly shriveled and roasted. Then pour enough boiling water to just cover 250g couscous in a pan. Wait for 10 minutes until the couscous is fluffy without putting the pan on the heat and then season with salt. Stir in the mixed veg with their oil and juices and serve.


I'll be doing a student dinners section very soon, teaching all the Uni students how to cook quick and delicious 'mummy' meals. Stay tuned :D