I have been in a place for the last two days that I haven’t been in for a while. I am pondering over everything, the meaning of things, what’s going on in this crazy world, and just generally taking stock of everything. I am taking a little time out of all social media and trying not to look at the news. I think I need a breather from Covid-19. Well as much as humanly possible anyway. I just need to be me, if that makes sense. Unlike some, I am extremely happy to be in my house, safe and secure. I will stay this way for as long as I am allowed. In truth, I don’t wish for the day that I am asked to go back into the office, Oh my how much easier it would be to do my job, but if I’m in work, then the kid is in school and we are more open to catching the virus. Ever since losing Elena, I will always to some point see the worst case scenario in my mind, and I don’t want to miss watching my youngest child grow up. So keep us locked down for as long as possible! I miss an awful lot of things, but I do not wish for anything right now apart from time with my son and our health.
So to distract myself from covid-19 related things, I am working my way through some of my ‘To Do’ list. Like many others, a little bit of home renovation work, some tidying and de cluttering and general organising. I collect recipes in folders that I like the look of and take inspiration from along with my cookbooks, I mean I have a good few shelves of these folders and cookbooks. I am a hoarder, my family are all aware of this, but you guys may not know this of me yet. So my job for this week is to organise my food folders and put them in order. I was flipping through the folders yesterday when I saw a recipe that was incredibly similar to one of the ones I have posted on my blog a while ago. Now the measurements I use are always my own, but overall the idea/recipe was so similar it started me thinking. Is anything really and truly original anymore?
Take for instance this one pot garlic mushroom spaghetti I am posting today. One pot dishes are not original to me, nor is the idea of a simple creamy garlic and mushroom sauce. But today I write it as my own recipe even though the inspiration must have come from someone and someplace over the years.
Keeping to my blog goal at the moment, I am using items from my pantry and my freezer. Trying to keep things as low calorie, low budget and as simple as possible. This pasta dish is super simple to make and produces a lovely fragrant creamy pasta dish. My son who claims to hate garlic, loved this dish. I did however tell him the mushrooms were chicken and that I only used the garlic to ward off the Pampires (vampires) and then discarded it but he lapped it up and said “so yummy mummy, thank you”.
It is not the fanciest looking dish, but well worth a go. Also if you want to zhuzh it up a little bit, you can add some extras to top it, if you have them of course. I like to add grilled prawns and crunchy asparagus to the side of this dish, but very very happy to eat a big bowl of this totally as it stands.
ONE POT CREAMY GARLIC MUSHROOM PASTA
- 160 g dried pasta
- 150 g frozen sliced mushrooms (very handy to keep in the freezer)
- 1.5 cups of full fat milk
- 1/2 pint of hot stock
- 1 very large garlic clove or 4 normal cloves, crushed
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 1/2 tsp dried dill
THE HOW
In a large saucepan or pot, heat the oil and add the garlic to it. Fry gently for about 20 seconds and then add in the mushrooms. I use frozen as they are all I have, they release a bit of water which is fine. If you are using fresh, that would be even better. Fry for a minute or two.
Now the easy part, add your pasta, stock and milk to the pot. Season with salt and pepper to your liking. Stir and bring to the boil.
Lower the heat and simmer until the pasta is al dente (see the packet for cooking times). Stir occasionally.
Remove from the heat, add in the dill and stir. The quantities I use, are just the right amount for the pasta quantity. If you notice that all the liquid is absorbed before the pasta is cooked, you can add a little water. But the idea of this dish, is to not strain away any liquid after cooking is done. It should be really creamy and luscious. The pasta cooks in the sauce and the starch released from the pasta thickens the sauce.
Plate up and serve.
When I have extra ingredients I add some grilled asparagus and prawns to top it, but like I said earlier this pasta is perfect on its own. I love garlic and cream sauce and simple is always better in my opinion.
Kitchen Feasts 