Simple Tuna Pasta

Another post so soon after a long absence? Yes, it is true! I think I'm going to put the one to two hours of Amy's sleep nap to good use. So this time I am going to talk you through a simple tuna pasta. I know what you are saying: "A salad at this time of the year - 'tis an outrage", but my girlfriend loves this dish and requested it. In her defence, I'm partial to this meal myself and I have to say that with summer fast approaching and pockets being a bit skint, this meal has it all. It's cheap, healthy and tasty.

My family have been using this recipe for as long as I can remember and I know that it's a firm favorite in my sister's family household too. Also when the whole family gathered at Christmas it was always my task of doing my part and making the pasta salad for the buffet. The bowl was always empty at the end of the day, which I will say, always put a smile on my face.

The recipe I'm going to post will feed 3-4 people, but if you double up on all the ingredients then this dish is a great party piece for BBQ's and special events like birthdays and as mentioned Christmas.

There are two ways to prepare this recipe. One way is to use raw ingredients, which is my preferred way. The other way is to gently fry the veg part of the recipe in oil till soft. To be fair either way is just as good as the other, I just prefer the crunch of the veg, especially the red onion, as I am a big raw onion fan - you will see this over the coming months. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this recipe.

What you need:

750g penne pasta/any pasta will do for this recipe

1 red onion

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

1 tin of sweetcorn

1 tin of tuna in sunflower oil

salad cream, this is up to you, as little or as much as you want. You can even use mayonnaise if you would like.

salt and pepper

What to do:

First of all you need to bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and add the pasta. I would cook the pasta to the instructions as you do not want to over cook it. Whilst this is going on, chop the red onion, red pepper, green pepper and add to a large mixing bowl and add a little bit of salt. Then add the sweetcorn and tuna sunflower oil included. The pasta should be ready by now, drain well then add to the veg, pour the salad cream - again, it's up to you how much you use. I used a Tesco own brand salad cream last time and it was a lot cheaper and tasted just as good the more expansive brand. There it is, it's that simple. I'm sure that once you try this recipe you will definitely go back for more.

Happy Cooking and Enjoy!

Cheap and Cheerful: Double Chocolate Cheesecake

To be honest, I'm not really a dessert or pudding man. Give me a nice salad - any day of the week. But my girlfriend is like most women and has a real sweet tooth. She loves her chocolate and sweets. So I thought for a change, we would look for a desert recipe that would be appealing to both of us, as we never plan a desert in our weekly shop. We both agreed that we liked cheesecake, So decided on a double chocolate cheesecake recipe that I found on the on the BBC Good Food website. I have always wanted to to prepare a cheesecake but thought that it would be quite complicated. That couldn't be further from the truth. This cheesecake is probably the most simple recipe I have ever tried. It took me about 20 minutes to prepare and all that was left was to leave to set in the fridge for a few hours. I hope you enjoy. 

What you need:

175g digestive biscuits

50g butter melted

300g cream cheese

200g mascarpone

300g milk chocolate, melted

100g dark chocolate, melted

What to do:

Crush the biscuits and mix with the melted butter. Press the biscuit mixture into the base of 20cm springform tin. Mix the cream cheese with the mascarpone. Fold the milk chocolate into the cream cheese mix and then stir in the dark chocolate so that it looks streaky. Spoon into the tin, level the top and chill for two hours or overnight.

Happy cooking and enjoy!