The 15 minute meal

What is the best and fastest way to use up a whole bunch of random ingredients and leftovers in the fridge? Pasta of course. And we set ourselves the challenge of serving in 15 minutes. Nathan kindly washed up for me then set a timer for 15mins and went to watch tv.

On the menu tonight was:

• tomato and basil pasta
• salad
• garlic toast

First on was the pasta which takes the longest to cook. To make the sauce:

• saute 1 diced celery stick, 1/4 diced red onion and 1 clove garlic crushed (this is known as the holy trinity in the words of Nathan's brother and I have to say I agree!)
• add left over cherry tomato and basil salad from last night to pan 
• add about 1/ cup tomato paste and 1/4 water (sadly we had run out of canned tomatoes - who does that??! If you have canned tomatoes use these instead!)
• season well with salt and pepper and simmer away until skin on tomatoes split (taste it - if it is too acidic add some brown sugar to sweeten it up a bit)
• serve with the pasta and fresh basil leaves

For the salad adapted last nights cucumber salad into a shiny new salad. To make this salad:

• equal quantities of cucumber, celery and green capsicum - roughly chopped
• 1 spring onion - finely chopped
• a good squeeze of lemon juice
• a good sprinkle of shredded mint and diced fresh red chilli
• a swirl of balsamic vinegar
• and toss it all together :)

And finally for the garlic toasts - a great way to use up some parsley.

• toast whatever bread you have lying around (we had soy and linseed)
• mix up a couple of tablespoons of butter with a small amount of crushed garlic and some torn parsley
• spread butter on the toast and voila!

pasta and salad

yummy garlic toast

So did we make the 15mins? Well I think it probably took 20mins but it was pretty quick and now my fridge has room in it so I can buy more yummy food :)