Midweek meals: 5 pasta recipes to make for dinner tonight

Ready in minutes, pasta is the ultimate quick and easy meal no matter the season or the weather

Pasta Puttanesca. Picture: Bríd O'Donovan

Spaghetti with nduja, lemon and fennel

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

This is a simple sauce to prepare, if you get your ingredients ready in advance you will be able to cook it up in the ten minutes it takes to cook the spaghetti

Servings

2

Preparation Time

 5 mins

Cooking Time

 10 mins

Total Time

 15 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 300g cherry tomatoes

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 2 cloves of garlic

• 50g nduja

• 1 lemon

• 1 tsp fennel seeds

• 40g freshly grated Parmesan

• 2 tbsp cream cheese

• A handful of fresh basil

• 160-200g dried spaghetti

• Salt and ground black pepper

Method

1. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. While you are waiting for it to boil, cut the cherry tomatoes into halves, lightly toast the fennel seeds in a dry pan and peel and thinly slice the garlic cloves. Add the spaghetti to the pan of boiling water and cook it for eight to ten minutes, until it still has just a little bite. While it is cooking you can prepare the sauce. Grate half of the parmesan and set aside. You will use the rest just before serving. I use a vegetable peeler to shave the rest of the parmesan into curls which taste and look great on top of the finished dish. You can do that just before serving it up.

2. Heat a heavy based frying pan over a high heat, add the olive oil and when it is hot and shimmering, the chopped cherry tomatoes. Turn the heat down to medium and cook the tomatoes for three to four minutes until they soften and begin to break down just a little. Add the sliced garlic and cook it for another minute or two. Lightly crush the fennel seeds in a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder, and sir them in. Add the juice of the lemon and a good grind of black pepper. Pick about half of the basil leaves and set them aside. Chop the rest of the basil, including the stalks and stir the chopped herbs into the sauce. Cut up the nduja and add that to the pan. Stir it in, keeping the heat low, you just want to simmer the sauce so that the nduja cooks down.

3. By now your spaghetti should be almost cooked, so dip a mug into the pan and scoop out some of the starchy pasta water and set it aside.

4. Add the cream cheese to the sauce and stir until it is well combined. Check your pasta now, it should be ready. Drain it and return it to the pan. Add a little splash of olive oil and toss the pasta to stop it getting sticky. Add the grated parmesan cheese to the sauce, stir it in and if it is getting as little too thick, add some of the reserved pasta water to the pan, stirring it in until you get the correct consistency. Taste the sauce and now add more salt if needed. Toss the spaghetti in the sauce and serve it up on pasta bowls or plates, with the rest of the basil leaves and the parmesan shavings scattered on top.

Prawn linguine with red, yellow and orange peppers

recipe by:Currabinny Cooks

A true meal in minutes, full of good-for-you ingredients

Servings

2

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 15 mins

Total Time

 25 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 10 fresh king prawns, peeled

• 3 large bell peppers, one of each colour except for green

• 2 garlic cloves, finely diced

• 1 red chilli, finely diced

• handful of cherry tomatoes, mixed heirloom preferred, halved or quartered

• large handful of chopped parsley

• juice of 1 lemon

• 280g Linguine

• 2 tbsp olive oil

Method

1. Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions in generously salted water, until al dente.

2. Remove the stalks and seeds from the bell peppers and chop the flesh into a fine dice.

3. In a large frying pan, heat the oil on a medium high heat and add the diced peppers, chilli and garlic.

4. Sautee for six to eight minutes, stirring regularly until the ingredients are fragrant and softened. Be careful not to let the garlic burn. Add the prawns and cook for a further three minutes until they are pink. Next, add the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and cook on a medium heat for another three to five minutes.

5. Add a little pasta water to make it more saucy if you wish before adding the drained pasta, stirring it well into the sauce.

6. Mix through the lemon juice and chopped parsley, check for seasoning and serve.