Really tasty food doesn’t have to take ages to make. This week I have not really been up for standing in the kitchen for hours making something delicious.
As vegetarian I love to try different things with foods that others see as boring. Last night was one of those nights where I found myself peering into the fridge in for some inspiration. I admit my menu planning had gone awry this week.
A couple of minutes rummaging in the fridge, cupboards and fruit bowl delivered a bit of a mixed bunch of ingredients.
Pasta
Mushrooms
Lemon
Rocket
cherry tomatoes
olives
garlic
So, I cooked the penne pasta, my method is to boil the kettle and add the boiled water to a pan, splash of olive oil, pinch of salt and bring back to the boil then add the pasta and cook for about 10-12 minutes
Meanwhile, in a frying pan, I heated the oil and then lowered to the lowest setting and added the garlic, leaving it to infuse for a couple of minutes. Then I sauteed off the mushrooms and tomatoes with the olive oil and grated in some lemon zest, added the juice of half a lemon and added in the olives.
In a seperate bowl I put the rocket and added a little more lemon juice.
Drained the pasta, reserved a little bit of the water, added the pasta back to the pan and then threw in the rocket allowing it to wilt. Next I added in the mushrooms, tomatoes and olives, bit of toss and hey presto
I ended up with a really fresh tasting pasta dish which I will call
Lemony Mushroomy Pasta
Total cooking time 15 minutes. Cost? Well I didn’t weigh it all out but approximate costs
Bag of pasta 85p lidl – used about a handful = 10p if that
mushrooms – 59p on offer in garage – used 1/4 =13p?
olives – jar 99p lidl – used about 10 = 2p
tomatoes – 99p punnet – used a 1/4 =25p
rocket – £1 bag used a handful (had 5 meals from it) =20p.
lemon – bag of 5 on offer 39p
splash of olive oil, pepper, salt – pennies
Total cost for 3 servings £1.09 @ 37p per serving. Not bad. Tasty and very filling.
