Monday, November 7, 2011

Quick Pasta Dinner



So we walked in the door after the flight from Hong Kong.  At 8:05 p.m.  By 8:25, I had dinner on the table. Seriously.  

If you don’t have mushrooms or grape tomatoes, use whatever you have in the vegetable drawer.  Zucchini would work, or finely sliced cauliflower or broccoli, or asparagus cut into pieces, with whole fresh tomatoes or even a can of crushed tomatoes.  If you don’t have haloumi, add feta or some other salty cheese in at the end.  This is not even a recipe as much as a suggestion of how to add flavor to pasta.

Ingredients
250g or 8 oz of dried pasta
3 medium portabella mushrooms
2 large handfuls of grape tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic
90g or 3 1/4 oz haloumi cheese
200g or 7 oz baby spinach
Extra virgin olive oil
Parmesan cheese
Sea salt
Chili flakes or crushed red chili

Method
Put a large pot of water on to boil.  Add some salt.

Meanwhile, slice the mushrooms, the garlic and halve the tomatoes.


Slice the haloumi and fry it till brown on both sides, in a non-stick skillet with a drizzle of olive oil.  





When your water is boiling, add the dried pasta.  Drizzle in a little olive oil and give it a good stir so it doesn't all stick together. 


Push the haloumi to the sides of the pan and add the mushrooms and garlic to the skillet.



Fry gently until they soften.  Add the tomato halves and cook briefly.


Use your spatula to cut the haloumi into one-inch pieces.


Check on your pasta.  When it is within a minute of so of being cooked, add the spinach to the pasta pot.  


Stir well and then pour the pasta and spinach into a colander to drain.

Add the spinach and pasta to the skillet.  


Stir well and top with freshly grated Parmesan and some chili flakes.  



Serve with extra Parmesan and a good drizzle of the olive oil.


The weekend in Hong Kong was wonderful but it’s good to be home and cooking again.

2 comments :

  1. This looks fantastic; I just want to dive right in! Thanks for sharing at Simple Supper Tuesday.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for hosting, Cindy! When I saw your link - don't even remember where! - I thought, I've got an old one that was quick and easy. :) Can't wait to visit the other participants!

    ReplyDelete

Where in the world are you? Leave me a comment! It makes me happy to know you are out there.