pasta,veg and sauce

I have been cooking both at home and for work for nearly 40 years, I only follow exact recipes when I want something like a sauce or a certain pastry.it tends to be look what I have, look at the time I have and go from there. At work I care for adults with additional needs and often need to cook for 15 people or more. We grow our own vegetables and buy in other ingredients, this means most meals start from the ground up.

I used to go to a Mongolian restaurant many years ago where you chose the ingredients and they cooed them on a massive hot plate. You chose the meat, the veg, the oil and the seasonings, if you got it right you did it again, if not you tried a new way next time. My cooking can be like that, try and do the good ones again. So here goes with my attempt to make a recipie.

pasta and veg and sauce.

Choose your pasta, I usually use shaped pasta as it works best to have as a one handed meal, so perfect for having while watching tv. Unfortunately that's the only ingredient that's fixed for this, it really is a whatever you have meal.

If pushed for time I boil the pasta in a fair size saucepan, then after a few minutes add frozen vegetables and boil till the pasta and veg is the way you prefer it. If you have more time use fresh veg, cook then chop it up into small pieces and add to the pasta towards the end of the cooking. Frozen tends to include carrots, swede and broccoli, what every veg you like will work. I like to have pieces big enough to tell the difference between rathe then have them in one lump.

If you buy frozen theres various alternatives, I often use casserole or stew packs as there's more variety and better size pieces.

The sauce can also be time dependant as well as taste dependent. I usually add tomato ketchup and add a hot sauce to add a kick. The hot sauce isn't mandatory and you can spend more time making a sauce if you prefer your own. Tomato juice or cut tomatoes work for example.

In my version with the pasta, tomato sauce, hot sauce and veg I add little favourites for flavour and added texture. If doing all in one pan I add small lumps of cheeses towards the end of the cooking, after the water has been drained and after the sauce is added. If you keep stirring the cheese will melt slightly and adds depth. I also like to add dried fruit if I have any to hand, such as sultanas or raisin. The advantage of the fruit is that they absorb some of the sauce and add their own variety.

Once all cooked put on a plate or in a bowl and enjoy. Although it finishes as a one pot dish it has variety of textures and tastes so seems like a meal with variety. As I said at the top its a meal that basically needs pasta, sauce and veg, how you choose or make them is down to you. Its easy to do but harder to repeat exactly. Black pepper increases the kick, so could spicy cheeses. On the other end if you don't want the kick or are cooking for kids forget the hot sauces.

In the end decide the version you like and try stick to it, the price of the meal can also vary massively. Pasta, frozen veg and ketchup ranges in price massively, depending on brand. Maybe get your kids involved in the cooking process as well.