Everyone has a quick pasta recipe these days and at first glance this one doesn’t seem all that unusual, but back when Mum cut this one out it was a fairly new idea for her. At that time the only pasta dish she made spaghetti bolognese.
When I was growing up the best part of the Sun newspaper was the Corinella children’s page. Each week the paper would publish jokes, drawings and recipes sent in by children and they would be awarded certificates of merit. This Fried Rice recipe earned it’s sender a Blue Certificate. It’s not the way I make Fried Rice, it has a much higher egg to rice ratio than my version, but it looks good and certainly worthy of a Blue Certificate.
Version One has the grand title Chicken Saute Au Gratin – a bit fancy really for chicken and mushroom topped with chips and cheese. Still as the tag at the bottom says it’s a great one for kids.
Version Two is not that much more sophisticated and should also be one kids love. Having just made a ‘pasta bake’ ie macaroni cheese for my grand-daughters, I really think this could also be called a pasta bake. Although I think I’d substitute whole milk for the evaporated milk for a better flavour.
This is a nice meaty pasta bake with carrot, celery and mushrooms cunningly hidden to fool those picky eaters. I like that you can make it and freeze it as it’s always great to have something in the freezer for those busy or lazy nights when you just don’t have time or feel like cooking.
Over the years the Italian influence gradually crept into Mum’s cooking. She cut this Canneloni recipe out of the New Idea in 1994, I’m not sure she actually made it, but I’m sure she meant to one day. It certainly looks good.
I think this is one of the most versatile of the meatball recipes that Mum collected. You can make them as a savory to have with drinks or serve them as a main dish with either rice or pasta. The recipe even has instructions for freezing and reheating – what more you possibly want.
Meatballs must have been one of Mum’s favourite meals as I’ve found lots of recipes for them in her collection. This one must have been a later one as it uses a bottle of pasta sauce and fettucine, ingredients that weren’t around when she was cooking for us as children.
Mum used whatever pieces of paper came to hand to write down recipes. This piece had someone’s address on it, but there was still lots of blank space to add a recipe!!
CHICKEN & TORTELLINI SALAD
Dressing:
Add pasta to a large pan of boiling water. Boil uncovered till tender. Drain. Rinse pasta under cold water, drain well. Meanwhile, heat oil in non stick pan, add fillets, cook 5 mins on each side or until cooked. Cut diagonally into 2 cm strips. Make dressing – combine all ingredients in jar, shake well. Combine, pasta, fillets, spinach and tomato in large bowl, add dressing toss well. Garnish with lemon rind.
Pasta dishes have come a long way since Mum first cooked this recipe, but that’s not to say that her version wasn’t tasty.
SPAGHETTI & MEAT SAUCE
Melt a little butter in a saucepan and fry the chopped garlic and onion until soft but not brown. Add the minced meat, salt, pepper, herbs, cloves, tomato puree, water and wine. Cover and simmer gently for ¾ hour. In a large quantity of salted water cook the spaghetti till soft, about ¾ hour. Drain and place in serving dish. Mix about a third of the sauce into spaghetti and put the rest of the sauce on top. Top with cheese.
Beb's Recipe Drawer 