Cooking On A Budget: 6 Ways To Use Pasta

Pasta is a kitchen staple and so many students live off of it. Not only is it cheap, but most of us have huge bags stocked up in our cupboards already. Instead of using it with the same premade sauce, why not opt for cooking at home and save some money along the way? Here are our favourite pasta recipes to inspire you to try something new.

1. Lemon and Garlic Spaghetti

Serves: 4

Ingredients: 450 grams of spaghetti, 60 millilitres of olive oil (finely chopped) , 1 red chilli (finely chopped), 1/2 a lemon (the juice), 15 grams of parsley (finely chopped)

Instructions:

1. Boil a pan of water and put in the pasta to cook.

2. While the pasta is cooking, put some oil in a saucepan and heat. Gently fry the garlic and chilli for a few minutes (don’t let them brown too much).

3. Drain the pasta and add it into the saucepan. You can turn off the heat.

4. Mix the pasta, garlic and chilli together, add a little bit more oil, the parsley and the lemon juice. It is now ready to serve.

2. Tomato Spaghetti

Serves:2

Ingredients: 1 can of tinned, peeled tomatoes, 1/2 onion (peeled and chopped), 6 basil leaves, 200 grams of spaghetti, parmesan (however much you want), 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, salt

Instructions:

1. Put the onions and tomatoes into a saucepan and heat. Squash the tomato with a wooden spoon so that some of the juice comes out, then leave it to simmer for half an hour.

2. When there is ten minutes left, boil some water and cook your pasta.

3. With five minutes left for the tomato and onion mix, add in the basil leaves and a few pinches of salt (taste as you go to make sure you are happy with the amount).

4. Drain the pasta and mix in the tomato sauce. When you serve it, add some parmesan cheese for flavour.

3. Greek pasta salad

Serves:1

Ingredients: 85 grams of pasta, 1/2 a lemon (grated for zest and juice), 1/4 of a red onion (cut up), 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil, 1/4 of a cucumber (cut up), 100 grams of cherry tomatoes (cut up), 15 grams of basil (cut up), 60 grams of feta (crumbled), 6 pitted black olives, salt and pepper

Instructions:

1. Fill a saucepan with water and put it on the hob to boil. Cook the pasta.

2. While the pasta cooks, cut up all the vegetables and feta cheese and put them in a bowl ready for later.

3. Next, mix together the lemon zest, juice, oil and add some salt and pepper.

4. When it has finished cooking, drain the pasta and cool it by running cold water over it.

5. Put the pasta in the bowl with the vegetables and toss everything together. Pour the dressing that you made over it and mix everything again. It will be ready to serve immediately though you can also put it in the fridge to chill for later.

4. Vegetable Pasta Bake

Serves: 2

Ingredients: 1/2 of a red pepper, 1/2 of a yellow pepper, 1/2 of an aubergine, 1/2 of a courgette, 1/2 of a red onions, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 75 grams of cherry tomatoes (cut into halves), 1 garlic clove, 1 tablespoon of basil (chopped), 150 grams of pasta, 75 grams of mozzarella, 1 tablespoons of pesto, 2 tablespoons of parmesan (grated), salt and pepper

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees fan.

2. Cut up the vegetables (pepper, aubergine and onion) and place them into a baking dish. Pour some oil over them and season with salt and pepper. Put them in the oven to cook for three quarters of an hour. (Make sure to turn the vegetables from time to time with a wooden spoon to prevent any from burning).

3. Prepare the tomatoes, garlic and basil and add them to the vegetables. Cook for a further 10 minutes.

4. Heat a saucepan of water to cook the pasta while that is cooking.

5. Drain the pasta and put it into the roasting vegetables. Add in the cheeses and the pesto and put it all back in to cook for another 10 minutes.

5. Minestrone Soup

Serves: 5

Ingredients: Olive oil, 2 Carrots (peeled and chopped), 6 celery sticks (chopped), 6 cloves of garlic (sliced), 2 onions (chopped), 1 tablespoon of tomato puree, 400 grams of chopped tomatoes, 750 millilitres of vegetable stock, 3 courgettes (chopped), handful of pasta

Instructions:

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan ready to fry the carrots, celery, garlic and onions for around six minutes. Then, add in the tomato puree, tomatoes, and stock. Stir and bring the mixture to the boil. Leave to simmer for 30 minutes.

2. Add the courgette and pasta and leave for another ten minutes. It will then be ready to serve.

6. Pesto pasta with potato (you will need a blender)

Serves: 4

Ingredients: 1 clove of garlic, 1 tablespoon of pine nuts, 40 grams of basil, 1 tablespoon of parmesan, 3 tablespoons of pecorino, 4 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 potato, 100 grams of green beans (chopped up), 400 grams of linguine pasta

Instructions:

1. Put the garlic and pine nuts in a blender and add a pinch of salt. Blend them into a paste, then add the basil and oil. Blend again then stir in the parmesan and pecorino.

2. Boil some water in a saucepan for the pasta. Cook the pasta.

3. Peel and cut up the potato into small cubes. Cook it in the water with the pasta until they are tender. A few minutes before the pasta is due to be done, add in the green beans too.

4. Drain the pasta, potatoes and beans. Mix in the pesto mixture that you made earlier and serve. You can add a bit of extra parmesan if you like.