This recipe is for a tasty but low-key meal that is quick, simple and cheap — perfect for those times when you want to eat well but just don't feel like going to a lot of trouble. It's also low-fat, which is always nice and all too rare in a pasta dish.
The anchovies give it a (necessary) depth of flavour, but they dissolve into anonymity and overall flavours of the dish are balanced, so even fussy kids will enjoy it.
Serve with a simple green salad.
Lamb, Feta and Herb Pasta
A simple, budget-friendly and kid-friendly weeknight meal.
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 400 g tortiglioni or penne pasta
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 4-5 anchovies, drained, chopped
- 500 g lamb mince
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 3 vine-ripened tomatoes, chopped
- ½ cup feta cheese, crumbled
- ¼ cup mint leaves, chopped
- ½ cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
Directions
- Cook pasta following packet directions.
- Meanwhile, heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Add garlic and anchovies. Cook for 1 minute or until anchovies dissolve.
- Increase heat to medium-high. Add mince and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, for 3 minutes or until mince is browned. Add lemon juice, tomatoes and salt and pepper. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes or until tomatoes soften. Remove from heat.
- Drain pasta and return to pan. Add mince mixture, feta, mint and parsley. Toss.
- Season with salt and pepper and serve.
Posted by Vicki on Sunday, June 20, 2010 at 04:18 PM in
Recipes and
Lamb and
Low-fat and
Pasta.
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Even The Fussy One (my youngest son) liked this one. It is always a risk turning him into a guinea pig, but in this case it paid off. ;-)
We'd actually planned to be guinea pigs tonight, but just for ourselves. I had Italian braciole in mind. Then (as is so often the case) my son's dad said he's going away today so my plans changed. There is no point cooking delicious gourmet food for someone who is unlikely to appreciate it. However, it becomes quite a challenge to find recipe ideas that I think my son will like. He's guaranteed to like anything with sausage or minced beef, but that really is kinda limiting...
I stuck with the Italian theme, bought (yes, I know!) some garlic bread, made a lovely garden salad, and served up this very simple dish. It turned out quite cheap as, although it uses an expensive cut of beef (fillet steak), it doesn't use a lot per person. Cooked lightly, it was tender and moist and there appeared to be heaps to go around. In fact, we expect to get a second meal (for three) out of it, but YYMV.
The original recipe is here but I made a lower fat version of it.
It's always especially successful when The Fussy One approves!
I hope you enjoy it too.
Chianti Style Beef Rigatoni
Simple to prepare with very few ingredients, this pasta dish was rich and tasty.
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
- 25 g unsalted butter
- 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 800 g canned chopped tomatoes
- 350 ml medium-bodied red wine (I used a cheap-but-ok cleanskin merlot and it was great)
- 400 g rigatoni pasta
- 250 g beef eye fillet, very thinly sliced
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley, to serve
Directions
- Melt butter in a large pan over medium heat. Add garlic. Stir for 1-2 minutes until golden.
- Add tomato and stir for 5 minutes. Add half the wine, then simmer over medium-high heat for 15 minutes.
- Add the remaining wine, then simmer for a further 15 minutes until well-reduced.
- Cook pasta according to packet instructions. When almost cooked, heat oil in a frypan over high heat. Brown beef, in 2 batches, for 5-10 seconds each side.
- Add beef and pan juices to sauce. Season, add drained pasta and toss.
- Serve with parmesan and parsley.
Posted by Vicki on Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 07:35 PM in
Recipes and
Beef and
Mediterranean and
Pasta.
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