Recipe: 4 easy recipes with Spaghetti (BBC Good Food)
learn your carbonara from your bolognaise WITH Four easy family recipes with Spaghetti
Ultimate spaghetti carbonara recipe
Ingredients
100g pancetta
50g pecorino cheese
50g parmesan
350g spaghetti
2 plump garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
50g unsalted butter
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
Finely chop the 100g pancetta, having first removed any rind. Finely grate 50g pecorino cheese and 50g parmesan and mix them together.
Beat the 3 large eggs in a medium bowl and season with a little freshly grated black pepper. Set everything aside.
Add 1 tsp salt to the boiling water, add 350g spaghetti and when the water comes back to the boil, cook at a constant simmer, covered, for 10 minutes or until al dente (just cooked).
Squash 2 peeled plump garlic cloves with the blade of a knife, just to bruise it.
While the spaghetti is cooking, fry the pancetta with the garlic. Drop 50g unsalted butter into a large frying pan or wok and, as soon as the butter has melted, tip in the pancetta and garlic.
Leave to cook on a medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring often, until the pancetta is golden and crisp. The garlic has now imparted its flavour, so take it out with a slotted spoon and discard.
Keep the heat under the pancetta on low. When the pasta is ready, lift it from the water with a pasta fork or tongs and put it in the frying pan with the pancetta. Don’t worry if a little water drops in the pan as well (you want this to happen) and don’t throw the pasta water away yet.
Mix most of the cheese in with the eggs, keeping a small handful back for sprinkling over later.
Take the pan of spaghetti and pancetta off the heat. Now quickly pour in the eggs and cheese. Using the tongs or a long fork, lift up the spaghetti so it mixes easily with the egg mixture, which thickens but doesn’t scramble, and everything is coated.
Add extra pasta cooking water to keep it saucy (several tablespoons should do it). You don’t want it wet, just moist. Season with a little salt, if needed
Use a long-pronged fork to twist the pasta on to the serving plate or bowl. Serve immediately with a little sprinkling of the remaining cheese and a grating of black pepper. If the dish does get a little dry before serving, splash in some more hot pasta water and the glossy sauciness will be revived.
Tuna, caper & chilli spaghetti
Ingredients
150g spaghetti or linguine
1 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, sliced
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped, plus extra to serve (optional)
1 tbsp drained capers
Small bunch of parsley, finely chopped (stalks included)
145g tuna in spring water, drained
90g rocket or baby spinach leaves
½ lemon, juiced
Instructions
Cook the spaghetti for 9-11 mins in a large pan of well-salted water until al dente.
Heat the oil in a wide frying pan over a very low heat, and gently cook the garlic and chilli to infuse the oil. Remove from the heat if the garlic is turning past light golden, as this will make it bitter.
Drain the pasta, keeping a cupful of the cooking water, and tip the spaghetti into the frying pan.
Toss the pasta in the oil over a low heat, adding a little of the pasta water to emulsify into a sauce that coats the pasta, then fold in the capers, parsley, tuna and some seasoning. Don’t stir too vigorously – you want to keep larger chunks of tuna.
Toss the rocket and lemon juice through the spaghetti, and serve with extra chilli scattered over, if you like.
Spicy spaghetti with garlic mushrooms
Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
250g pack chestnut mushroom, thickly sliced
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
Small bunch parsley, leaves only
1 celery stick, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
400g can chopped tomato
1⁄2 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped, (or use dried chilli flakes)
300g spaghetti
Instructions
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan, add the mushrooms, then fry over a high heat for 3 mins until golden and softened. Add the garlic, fry for 1 min more, then tip into a bowl with the parsley.
Add the onion and celery to the pan with the rest of the oil, then fry for 5 mins until lightly coloured.
Stir in the tomatoes, chilli and a little salt, then bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 10 mins until thickened.
Meanwhile, boil the spaghetti, then drain. Toss with the sauce, top with the garlicky mushrooms, then serve.
Spaghetti & meatballs with hidden veg sauce
Ingredients
For the meatballs
300g good quality pork sausage (about 4 large or 8 chipolatas)
500g lean beef mince
1 small onion, coarsely grated
1 carrot, finely grated
1 tbsp dried oregano
50g parmesan, finely grated, plus extra to serve
1 tbsp olive oil
For the tomato sauce and spaghetti
1 tbsp olive oil
1 courgette, coarsely grated
3 garlic cloves, finely grated
1 tbsp tomato purée
splash red wine vinegar
Cooked spaghetti
Instructions
Squeeze all the sausage meat out of the sausage skins into a large bowl and add the mince. Tip all the rest of the meatball ingredients, except the olive oil, into the bowl and season with black pepper then squish everything together through your hands until completely mixed.
Roll the meatball mix into walnut-sized balls and place them on a plate
Make the sauce. Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the courgette and garlic and cook for 5 mins until soft and mushy. Stir in the tomato puree, sugar and vinegar leave for 1 min then tip in the tomatoes and simmer for 5 mins. If your children like courgettes then you can leave the sauce chunky. But if, like mine, they hate courgettes then blitz the sauce with a hand blender – either way continue to simmer sauce gently while you cook the meatballs.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan and, working in batches, brown the meatballs on all sides then pop them into the sauce – continue to simmer the sauce for 15 mins, stirring very gently until the meatballs are cooked through. Serve with cooked spaghetti, extra grated Parmesan and a few torn basil leaves.