Fettuccini with pesto and prawns

One of my favourite recipies, especially with a good brand of pesto! Here's the ingredients, modify quantities as appropriate:

• Prawns (however many you fancy)
  
• Red pesto (e.g. garlic and sundried tomato)
• Onion
• Mushrooms
• 1/2 of a medium tomato per serve
  
• 75ml cream per serve
• 1 clove garlic per serve
  

Here's the directions - and presuming that the prawns are pre-cooked:

1. Chuck some water on to boil; while you're waiting, slice up the mushrooms and onion, cube the tomato, and peel your garlic. After the garlic is peeled, crush it up (hope you have a good garlic press!) on top of your mushrooms
   
2. By now the water should be boiled, so bung in your fettuccini (or pasta of choice)
3. Throw the onions into a hot pan (med-high heat) with your desired amount of olive oil, and cook them for a minute or two so they become soft.
4. Next, throw in the tomatos, mushrooms, and garlic. Stir carefully - try not to mash up the tomatos too much.
5. When that's cooked down a bit, add in the prawns and the pesto. Keep stirring.
6. Finally, when your pasta has 2 or 3 minutes left to cook, add in the cream, stir until it's evenly distributed (by which point it should be almost boiling), and then reduce your heat to a simmer. Keep stirring occasionally until the pasta is cooked.

That's it! Best served with fresh parmesan cheese and fresh cracked pepper.

Lasagne

This is one of our favourites!

Serves 4

Ingredients:
1. Lean mince - approx 600g
2. Store bought (or homemade if you're feeling energetic) pasta sauce. It doesn't matter which one, but we like anything 5 Brothers the most.
3. 1 Onion - finely chopped
4. 2 cloves Garlic - finely chopped
5. Grated cheese - approx 250g
6. Sour cream - medium sized tub
7. Grated Parmesan cheese

Method:
1. Pre heat oven to 200 degrees.
2. Grease lasagne or casserole dish
3. Sauté the onion in a large frying pan with little olive oil
4. Add the mince and brown.
5. Once mince is done add the pasta sauce and let simmer as per the instructions on the jar.
6. Layer the lasagne dish with mince, then a lasagne sheet, spread a layer of sour cream over the lasagne sheet (as much or as little as you like, I like to be heavy handed with it) sprinkle the cheeses and repeat the process until your dish is full, or you've run out of mince!
7. Make sure you have a lasagne sheet as you're top layer, and cover with the sour cream and cheeses.
8. Bake in the oven for approximately half an hour, or until golden brown.
9. Leave to stand for about 5-10 minutes if you've got time - makes it a little easier to serve.

The leftovers freeze really well and as with most tomato based pasta dishes, it tastes even better the next day.

Optional extra - a layer of baby spinach leaves after the mince layers tastes good too.