This was the recipe I copied from BBC Good Eats:
Cherry
Tomato, Kale, Ricotta and Pesto Pasta
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 tsp crushed chilli flakes
- 2 x 400g cans cherry tomatoes
- 500g penne
- 200g kale, chopped
- 4 tbsp ricotta
- 4 tbsp fresh pesto
- Parmesan or vegetarian alternative, to serve (optional)
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add the garlic and cook for 2 mins until golden. Add the chilli flakes and tomatoes, season well, and simmer for 15 mins until the sauce is thick and reduced.
- While the sauce is cooking, cook the pasta following pack instructions - add the kale for the final 2 mins of cooking. Drain well and stir into the sauce, then divide between 4 bowls. Top each with a dollop of ricotta, a drizzle of pesto and shavings of Parmesan, if you like.
This was the recipe I actually made:
Cherry
Tomato, Kale, Goat's Cheese and Pesto Pasta
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 cartons of cherry tomatoes
- 500g fusilli or penne
- 200g kale, chopped
- Goat's cheese
- 4 tbsp fresh pesto
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add the garlic and cook for 2 mins until golden.
- While
the sauce is cooking, cook the pasta following pack instructions -
add the kale for the final 2 mins of cooking. Drain well and stir the pesto and garlic into the pasta. Wash the tomatoes and add to the bowl. Spoon out a serving and top with a dollop
of goat cheese.
To explain: when I'm out shopping, I tend to make substations on the fly if I can't find what I'm looking for (see: subbing tomato paste for tomato sauce) so when I found cartons of cherry tomatoes, I picked them up, especially since I thought 800 grams of cherry tomatoes would be a lot. Turns out, that was needed to make sauce. I didn't feel like making my own type of tomato sauce so I modified the recipe to one with no sauce and with whole cherry tomatoes.
I also hate chilies so I cut that out and because I could not find ricotta, I used goat's cheese. Lidl was having a special on 500 gram fusilli so I substituted that in for the penne.
I chose this recipe because kale is apparently seasonal to January and I had never tried kale before. Strangely, I couldn't find it at Lidl or Aldi and I could barely find it at Tesco. I wonder if kale's not too popular here in Ireland?
Ingredients: Vegetable oil, 2 cartons of cherry tomatoes, fusilli pasta, pesto sauce, kale, garlic, goat's cheese
First I chopped the garlic cloves, then cooked them.
I let those sit and cool while I boiled water for the pasta.
Like before, I needed two pans for all the pasta.
While the water was boiling and the pasta was cooking, I chopped up the kale.
Man, was there a lot of it! This whole mess was 200g worth of veggies.
When the pasta needed only two more minutes, I dumped the kale into the boiling water.
Both of the pots went into the strainer under cold water.
I added the garlic, four spoonfuls of pesto and the cherry tomatoes.
I spooned out a serving and added the goat's cheese.
I had another serving and there was still enough left for four containers!
In other news, another cutting board and two more knives, along with what appears to be a measuring cup, have appeared in the kitchen! Maybe by the end of the week a set of measuring spoons will have appeared.
This was my first time cooking with both garlic cloves and kale and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. While not quite as tasty as the Penne with Roasted Fennel, it was still delicious and I would definitely make this dish again.
Now that I think about it, all of these recipes have some ingredient that I'm using for the first time. I guess I should start tracking that.
Food used for the first time: Kale, Garlic cloves
Vegetable Oil, 1/20 of a bottle at EUR 1.35/bottle = EUR 0.07 at Aldi
Garlic Cloves, 1/4 of a bulb at EUR 0.85 for 4 bulbs = EUR 0.23 at Lidl
Cherry Tomatoes, 2 Cartons at EUR 0.89/carton = EUR 1.78 at Lidl
Soft Goat's Cheese, 1/2 carton at EUR 1.99/carton = EUR 1.00 at Lidl
Pesto Genovese, 1/2 bottle at EUR 0.95/bottle = EUR 0.48 at Lidl
500g Fusilli: EUR 0.95 at Lidl
200g Curly Kale: EUR 1.69 at Tesco
Total Cost: EUR 6.20 for 6 servings or EUR 1.03 per serving
Ingredients: Vegetable oil, 2 cartons of cherry tomatoes, fusilli pasta, pesto sauce, kale, garlic, goat's cheese
First I chopped the garlic cloves, then cooked them.
I let those sit and cool while I boiled water for the pasta.
Like before, I needed two pans for all the pasta.
While the water was boiling and the pasta was cooking, I chopped up the kale.
Man, was there a lot of it! This whole mess was 200g worth of veggies.
When the pasta needed only two more minutes, I dumped the kale into the boiling water.
Both of the pots went into the strainer under cold water.
I added the garlic, four spoonfuls of pesto and the cherry tomatoes.
I spooned out a serving and added the goat's cheese.
I had another serving and there was still enough left for four containers!
In other news, another cutting board and two more knives, along with what appears to be a measuring cup, have appeared in the kitchen! Maybe by the end of the week a set of measuring spoons will have appeared.
This was my first time cooking with both garlic cloves and kale and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. While not quite as tasty as the Penne with Roasted Fennel, it was still delicious and I would definitely make this dish again.
Now that I think about it, all of these recipes have some ingredient that I'm using for the first time. I guess I should start tracking that.
Food used for the first time: Kale, Garlic cloves
Vegetable Oil, 1/20 of a bottle at EUR 1.35/bottle = EUR 0.07 at Aldi
Garlic Cloves, 1/4 of a bulb at EUR 0.85 for 4 bulbs = EUR 0.23 at Lidl
Cherry Tomatoes, 2 Cartons at EUR 0.89/carton = EUR 1.78 at Lidl
Soft Goat's Cheese, 1/2 carton at EUR 1.99/carton = EUR 1.00 at Lidl
Pesto Genovese, 1/2 bottle at EUR 0.95/bottle = EUR 0.48 at Lidl
500g Fusilli: EUR 0.95 at Lidl
200g Curly Kale: EUR 1.69 at Tesco
Total Cost: EUR 6.20 for 6 servings or EUR 1.03 per serving
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