Staying in a family with 3 generations, food is never an issue in our house. There is always food in abundance, so it a matter of choice for me whether to cook or not! Well, it may sound perfect to some of you, but mind you….its not Jespecially when your motherly instinct kicks in , you make something special for your kids and they say ‘oh, Grandpa just gave me beans on toast!!!’ grrrrrrrr there goes all the maternal affection and the background Bollywood style soft sentimental music.
Last evening was one such evening. I rushed home from work with images of my kids coming bounding to the door, screaming ‘mum, I am hungry, what are you gonna make tonight?!’ and always in my imagination, the first word that comes to mind is ‘pasta’. Anyway, none of that happened, as you would have guessed by now but I still went ahead and made pasta ( the kids , of course, promised to eat it after giving me curious looks aka why is she so excited about pasta?! Its just pasta, for goodness sake!!! )
I just love pasta in all shapes and forms…..it gives you a warm, satisfying feel ( carbs, of course J ) one of the most versatile dishes, can be made in a jiffy, can be modified according to your wishes ( we Indians find it difficult to resist adding a green chilly in the end, even though there is no place for it in the original recipe 😉
Firstly heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a thick bottom pan.
Add sausages and cook till golden brown on all sides.
Remove and drain the oil from the sausages on kitchen towel.
Cut it into pieces and keep aside.
Keep water to boil in a large saucepan, add 1 tsp salt
Add 2 cups of uncooked pasta to the boiling water.
Keep a colander ready for draining the pasta when it is nearly done.
Add 4 cloves of sliced garlic to the remaining oil in the pan.
Add 2 cups of chopped vegetables ( courgettes, baby tomatoes, sweet pepper, onions, sweet corn, beetroot, in fact add any veg that you fancy….)
Mix well with a large spoon till vegetables are nearly done.
Add the cooked pasta, canned mixed beans and tomato puree.
Add chicken stock ( 1 heaped tbsp of chicken stock granules to one cup of boiling water: I use the leftover water from the pasta )
Mix well with sausage chunks.
Season with salt and pepper to taste, perhaps some chopped green chillies too for those who cant do without it ( I definitely need it in everything J )
Serve steaming hot with a dollop of crème fraiche or 2 tbsp double cream.
Now just sit back, relax and enjoy this heart warming meal.
To my Kids with Love 