Fluffy pillows of potato covered in a rich tomato sauce infused with oregano. I use the packet gnocchi for this recipe, but you can make you own from scratch if you have the time. I also cheat using tinned tomato soup as i find its sweeter than tinned tomatoes and my kids prefer it that way.

Ingredients:
​4 Tablespoons Olive oil
2 teaspoons Garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried Oregano
1  can Tomato soup
4 Tablespoons Parmesan Cheese, grated
1 packet pre-made Gnocchi

Method:
To make the pomodoro sauce, heat oil in a large pan over low heat; add the garlic and stir until garlic starts to brown. Stir in oregano and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Add the tomato soup to the pan and season with salt. Cover sauce and cook for 15 to 20 minutes over medium low heat until sauce starts to thicken; keep sauce warm while you cook the gnocchi.
To cook the gnocchi, bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Put gnocchi into the pot and boil until gnocchi floats, about 2 or 3 minutes; remove gnocchi as they start to float with a slotted spoon and put straight into the sauce. Add the Parmesan into the gnocchi and serve.

This risotto is full of yummy goodness. The roasted sweet potato makes this dish some comforting. 

Ingredients:
1  small Sweet Potato, diced into cubes
2 tbs Olive oil, plus extra to serve
1 teaspoon Garlic, minced
220g Pearl couscous
125ml White wine
1/4 cup Tomato Soup
2 Chicken Stock Cubes 
750ml Water
1/2 tsp Dried Thyme
500g chicken breast fillets, chopped 
60g Parmesan, grated



Method:
Preheat oven to 210'c. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Place the sweet potato on prepared tray and drizzle over 1 tbs oil. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden and tender.
Heat 1 tbs of the oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic. Cook for 1 minute or until aromatic. Add the couscous and stir for 1 minute or until lightly toasted. Add the wine. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until wine evaporates. Stir in tomato soup, stock cubes, water and half of the dried thyme. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and cook, stirring often, for 15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.
Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a large non-stick frying pan over high heat. Season the chicken and cook, turning, for 5 minutes or until cooked through.
Add the chicken, sweet potato, remaining thyme and half of the parmesan to the couscous mixture. Serve with the remaining parmesan and drizzle with extra oil.

This ragu is utterly divine. Full of bold flavors as well as rich and filling. This ragu was inspired by a meal i had at Jamie Oliver's a few years ago.
The recipe uses Chianti, which is a type of red wine, its the only red wine i cook with now because of the flavor it gives, also the milk added at the end creates such a creamy taste which id never experienced before.

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Butter
1 Onion, finely chopped
1 Carrot, finely chopped
2 Garlic cloves, crushed
80g Bacon, diced
250g Beef mince
250g Pork Mince
1 Tablespoons Dried Oregano
3 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
250ml Chianti (type of red wine, its delicious)
500ml Beef Stock
125ml Milk
500g Spaghetti, cooked
Parmesan Cheese to Serve

Method:
Heat oil and butter in a large, deep saucepan over a medium heat. Add Onion, carrot and garlic, stirring until its a nice golden colour. Add bacon and cook for 5mins, then add mince and oregano. Break up mince with a wooden spoon ,season with salt and pepper and cook for 8mins or until everything is browned. 
Add wine and let it simmer until it looks like its mostly evaporated. Pour in stock and add tomato paste, mix well. Bring to the boil and then simmer half covered for 45mins, stirring regularly. Add milk and let simmer for another 15mins. Season to taste. Add mixture to cooked pasta and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Risoni, which is pasta shaped like rice, is the perfect base for this nutritious and filling salad. You can add anything you like to this salad to suit your own tastes, this salad below is filled with all my favorite flavors at the moment.

Ingredients:

200g Risoni 
150g  Feta (i use danish feta), drained and coarsely crumbled
1 Spring onion, sliced
6 pitted Kalamata olives, diced
1 Tomato, diced
1/2 Avocado, diced
2 Tablespoons Nuts (i used a mixture), chopped roughly
1 Tin 4 Bean Mix, drained and washed
Dressing
1 Tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Method:

Cook pasta according to packet directions. Drain and rinse under cold water. Drain well and place in a large bowl.
Add all the other ingredients to the bowl  and toss well to combine. Season well.
To make the dressing place vinegar and oil in a screw top jar and shake well. Pour over salad and toss gently.

Note: Sprinkle with some Pangrattato for some extra crunch and flavor.

A simple favorite of mine, great for weeknights when you don't have much time to be creative. Traditionally called Spaghetti Aglio e Olio in italy. You can use olive oil instead of butter but just dont use as much.

Ingredients:

200g spaghetti
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions.
In a medium saucepan, combine butter and garlic over medium heat until the butter has melted. Cook for 2-3 minutes (make sure you dont burn the garlic)
Remove from heat. Stir in pasta and Parmesan until well combined. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Tip - Add a bit (2-3 tablespoons) of the pasta water to create a little bit of a sauce. The starch in the water helps the garlic butter coat the spaghetti.

This recipe was created very late at night when my tummy suddenly decided it was starving! I grabbed whatever i could get my hands on put them together with spaghetti ( i use bucatini, because its my fav) and wel ah! yumminess in 15mins.

Ingredients:

200g uncooked Bucatini
2 Tbsp Olive oil 
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
½ cup Milk 
1 cup Ricotta 
¼ tsp Salt 
100g chopped spinach, washed & chopped
10 Olives, diced 
1 small bunch Sprouting Cauliflower, lightly steamed (optional)

Method:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and then add the bucatini. Cook until al dente, then drain. Reserve about ½ cup of the pasta cooking water.
While the pasta is boiling, prepare the ricotta sauce. Add the garlic to a large frying pan with the olive oil. Cook over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, or just until soft and fragrant. Add the milk and ricotta, then stir until smooth. Allow the sauce to heat through. The sauce will thicken slightly as it simmers. Once it's thick enough to coat the spoon, season with salt and pepper.
Add the spinach to the ricotta sauce. Stir until the spinach is distributed throughout the sauce. Turn the heat off.
Add the cooked and drained bucatini to the sauce along with olives and steamed sprouting cauliflower and toss to coat. If the sauce becomes too thick or dry, add a small amount of the reserved pasta cooking water to loosen it up. Serve warm.

This pasta dish is so tasty and very quick to make. Bucatini is a type of hollow spaghetti, i like bucatini as the sauce gets into the hole and fills with sauce. The all'amatriciana in this dish is a sauce with pork (i use  pancetta), tomato and cheese (i use parmesan). Its great for kids and you can add sneaky veggies into it if you like.

 ngredients:

2 tablespoons Olive oil
1 Onion, finely chopped
80g sliced pancetta, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/4 Red Chilli, deseeded and diced finely
350g tomatoes, coarsely chopped
Pinch of sugar
375g dried bucatini pasta
60g finely grated parmesan
 Chopped fresh Chives, to serve

Method:

Cook the pasta to the packet instructions until al dente. 
Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Cook onion, stirring often, for 5 minutes or until soft. Add pancetta. Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until golden. Add garlic and chilli and cook, stirring until aromatic, this should take around a minute. Add the tomato. Cook, stirring, until the mixture boils. Simmer for 10 minutes or until mixture thickens slightly. Stir in sugar. Strain the pasta keeping 60ml of the cooking water. Return the pasta to saucepan. Stir in the sauce. Gradually add just enough of the reserved cooking liquid to lightly coat the pasta. Sprinkle with parmesan and chives.

Nothing is better than a gooey lasagna spilling with creamy bechamel sauce. This recipe uses beef and pork as it gives a much richer flavor. 

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
750g Mince (combination of Pork & Beef)
1 Onion
400g Tin of Tomatoes
2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
1 Tablespoon mixed Herbs
1-2 Tablespoons Sugar
1 Lot Bechamel sauce (Click here for recipe)
375g Packet Lasagne Sheets or 1 lot of fresh pasta (click here for recipe)
Cheese to top

Method:

Preheat oven to 180'c. In a large frying pan heat 1/2 the oil and brown mince in batches (tip- drain of the liquid when frying and brown till mince is crispy, gives a great texture). Once mince is cooked place remove from frying pan and place aside. Add onions to frying pan with other half of the oil and cook until soft, add mince back in along with tomatoes, tomato paste, dried herbs and sugar. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 20mins. Meanwhile make the bechamel sauce.
To prepare the lasagne layer 1/3 meat mixture 1/3 sauce and 1 sheet of lasagne. Repeat until all the mixtures are used up. Top with cheese and place into the hot oven for 25mins or golden and bubbling.

​Ingredients:
55g Pine nuts, Toasted
1 1/2 Cups Basil
2 Teaspoons crushed garlic
80g Parmesan Cheese
5 Tablespoons Olive Oil
300g Spaghetti, cooked (To Serve 4 people)

Method:

Cook pasta to packet directions.
In a food processor place the pine nut, basil and garlic. Process until finely chopped. With the motor running gradually add the oil in a steady stream until mixture is well combined. Season well with salt and pepper.

Toss pesto with hot pasta to serve.

Note: Pesto may need more nuts or cheese to suit your taste. Keep Tasting and seasoning until you like it.

This creamy pea and bacon pasta is such a great meal for those weeknights when you need something quick on the table to feed those hungry monsters (the kids). It really is that simple to make something really tasty that fills the family's tummies with not alot of ingredients and this recipe shows that.

 Ingredients:

400g mini Pasta Shells
1 Chicken Stock cube
6 Rashes Bacon, diced (you can add more or less for your liking)
1 Cup Frozen Peas
100mls Thickened Cream
100g Parmesan Cheese, grated

Method:

Cook pasta as per packet instructions in salted water flavored with the stock cube  until al dente.
meanwhile heat oil in a large frypan over medium heat, then add bacon and cook until crisp and golden. Add peas, and cream and heat until mixture is hot. Turn off heat until pasta is cooked.
Once pasta is cooked add 2 tablespoons of pasta water to the cream and stir to combine. Drain the rest of the pasta and add to bacon cream sauce mixture and stir well to coat all the shells. Sprinkle over parmesan cheese and serve hot.
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