Simple Pasta and Ragout (did i mention you had to make the pasta?)

Taken on a Canon Eos 350d digital camera

I once had a heated discussion with my mother because she wanted to make lasagna. She bought all of these nice ingredients, ripe juicy tomatoes, fresh basil, minced beef from the meat counter only to discover I have Tesco value lasagna sheets. I didn’t buy them due to lack of funds, I bought them because when you read the ingredients on expensive pasta and value pasta it reads exactly the same 'durum wheat' nothing more, nothing less. To make pasta you mix flour with water. Sometimes you get egg pasta where instead of water you add... yep, that’s right, egg.

So if you're feeding 2 or 20 it’s easy to remember how to make enough pasta for all. Are you ready? 

1 egg and 100g of flour for 2 people. Simple.

If you have a food processor the next part is easy. 

PASTA

Put the flour in the bowl, close the lid, turn on the machine and crack an egg into it, whizz for 30 seconds. done

You’ll need to stretch the gluten in the flour now so pour the crumbs onto a clean surface and knead for a few minutes. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for about 20 minutes.

If you don’t have a food processor use a mixing bowl, sift the flour in and bore a hole in the middle. Whisk and egg and pour it into the hole and spin the mixture with your fingers to slowly bring the flour into the centre, once it’s all collected you can knead it as above.

Pasta machines look good in a kitchen but if you're not going to use one then pure and simple don't buy one. It’s a utensil not an ornament. If you have one then use it, if you don’t then a rolling pin will do, if you don’t have a rolling pin then a empty bottle of wine will do, if you don’t have one of those then there’s no hope.

After making your pasta sheets, run it through the tagliatelle cutter and toss it in a bowl of flour to stop it sticking to itself. If you don't have a pasta machine cut it by hand.

RAGOUT.

Mince is cheap as anything nowadays, again, check out the reduced aisle as there's always different types of mince reduced. Turkey mince will work when mixed with beef mince. In my local Super Marche I can pick up some value mince for about £1.20 for 250g, which is enough for purpose.

TIP 1. Tomato passata in cartons is cheaper than the majority of tins of chopped tomatoes and you get more for your money. Buy this instead as it will save you money and taste nicer. 

Dice (and I mean dice, not chop) an onion, a carrot and a couple of sticks of celery and fry them in some decent olive oil. When softened remove from the frying pan and fry the mince (a mix of pork and beef is the best but just beef is fine) when browned add the veg and a carton of passata with a good pinch of sugar and a decent amount of seasoning. Stick a lid on it and simmer for a minimum of 1hr 30 mins.

When you think the ragout is at its best, boil some salted water and cook the pasta, drain and add to the ragout. Always mix your pasta and sauce (the only exception is if you're using a pesto for the pasta and having a sauce as well) otherwise your pasta dries out and tastes like nothing. Top with Parmesan and serve with a glass of red wine. delicious 


Price per head hard to quantify as eggs and flour don't come in individual servings. roughly £1.70 per person 

Monkfish & Potatoes

Taken with a Canon eos 350d digital Slr

Pound for pound monkfish costs as much as fillet steak. If you're looking to save on your shopping bill I’d stay clear of this Atlantic delicacy. However due to its expense you'll very often find it in the reduced section of your supermarket as nobody wants to buy it full price. As long as you have a couple of monkfish recipes memorised you can get a great meal for less.

Parma ham you can get from the deli counter otherwise your supermarket usually has a cheap and cheerful version near the processed meat aisle. A couple of medium to large potatoes, a pot of cream and a small lemon, that’s all you really need to get you on your way to this beautiful meal for two.

Tip 1. Always preheat your oven.

Tip 2. If you put your grill on it heats the oven quicker.

MONKFISH

For the monkfish you don't need to do anything too special. Roll the fillet in some cracked black pepper and some lemon zest (and a tiny bit of dried thyme if you have any) and wrap it up in overlapping slices of Parma ham. Tie it up with string one ringlet at a time. I don't expect you to do butchers knots here. 

POTATOES

For your tatties, pour the small pot of cream into a saucepan and then half again with milk. Give it a good bit of seasoning as potatoes can take it.

Slice your tatties as thin as you can, use the slice setting out a food processor if you have one (this will save you so much time).

One by one add the slices to the cream and press it down to make sure they're all covered, simmer for about 15 minutes on a very low heat otherwise the cream and potato will stick and burn to the pan.

Grease up an oven dish and add your potatoes. Cook at 150c for about 40 minutes or until the top is nicely browned. Remove from the oven, cover with foil then crank up your oven to 240c.

When the oven is nice and hot pop in the monkfish and set a timer for 15 minutes. When that pings you can serve.

You have a choice of sauce for this. You could’ve bought a larger pot of cream and mixed it with some watercress. Or if you have a (fresh or old) bottle of red wine knocking around you could reduce about a glass worth in a saucepan with a good pinch of sugar and a little bit of gravy granules to make a nice rich sauce to go with it.

Tea for two for about £3.50 each (minus the wine)