This recipe takes hardly any time at all to make, so it’s a delicious meal for a weeknight. The combination of flavours is really good (although the first time we made it we were missing the sage because I couldn’t find any at the supermarket!). You could easily make a bigger batch for family or friends, or even leave out the Parma ham for a veggie version. I had linguine, but Tom has wholewheat fusilli instead – use whichever pasta you prefer.

Ingredients (serves 2)

2 tbsp olive oil
400g cherry tomatoes
2 tbsp chopped sage
a pinch of dried crushed chilli flakes
3 garlic cloves, crushed
sea salt flakes, crushed
85g Parma ham, slices separated
150g dried linguine
125g ricotta

Method

1. Warm the oil in a medium pan and tip in the cherry tomatoes, sage, chilli flakes, garlic and a generous pinch of sea salt.

2. Cook together for 10-15 minutes, stirring now and then, until the tomatoes have begun to soften – press them with the back of a spoon to squash them slightly.

3. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil. Separate the slices of Parma ham and slice into strips – dry-fry in a frying pan for a few minutes until crisp.

4. Boil the pasta according to pack instructions, drain, then return to the pan and toss with the hot tomato mixture and the strips of Parma ham.

5. Add the ricotta, in small pieces, toss once more and serve in warmed bowls.

This recipe is taken from the Sainsbury’s magazine website.

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This is another recipe from ‘Mexican Food Made Simple‘ by Thomasina Miers, which has quickly become one of my favourite recipe books. You’ll need to make some roast tomato sauce for these enchiladas, which takes a little while but will be worth the effort! We altered the quantities to make this for two, but I’ve put the original quantities here. Again, I must apologise for the not-so-brilliant photo here – at least the clocks go back this weekend and nights will soon get lighter for taking good food photos!

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

1 quantity of roast tomato sauce (see link above)
200ml stock (we used vegetable stock)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Sea salt and black pepper
30g pine nuts
Olive oil
50g raisins
475g frozen spinach, defrosted and drained (we used a bag of fresh spinach)
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
150g ricotta
6 corn tortillas
4-5 tablespoons sour cream
80g Cheddar cheese, grated

Method

1. Preheat the oven 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Heat up the tomato sauce with the stock and ground cinnamon and check the seasoning.

2. Toast the pine nuts in a frying pan and then set aside on a plate. In the same pan, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and add the raisins. Cook for 2 minutes until they plump up. Add the spinach, pine nuts, nutmeg, salt and pepper and cook for a couple of minutes. Remove from the heat and add the ricotta.

3. Spoon two tablespoonfuls of the spinach mixture onto the centre of each tortilla and roll. Cover the base of an ovenproof dish with a few spoonfuls of the tomato sauce and place the rolled tortillas on top, seam side down. Pour over the remaining tomato sauce.

4. Spoon the sour cream on top and sprinkle with the cheese. Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the sauce is bubbling.

Enjoy!

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This recipe started out as squash, ricotta and sage pasta bake – a recipe I found on the BBC Good Food website. I thought this sounded really tasty, but the comments at the bottom of the page were pretty mixed and many people had added their own ingredients! So I’ve done that, but a bit more radically I suppose! You could leave out the chicken for a veggie dish. This serves 4 people.

Ingredients

1 squash, weighing about 1kg, chopped into chunks
2 tbsp olive oil
200ml tub crème fraîche
50g parmesan, finely grated
250g tub ricotta
Small bunch of sage leaves, chopped
2 chicken breasts, diced
Nutmeg
Chilli flakes (as generous as you want to be with these!)
A handful of mushrooms
A handful of pine nuts
1 red onion, finely chopped
Ground black pepper
Pasta (shape of your choice – allow 50g per person)

Method

1. Heat the oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Toss the squash together with the olive oil in a roasting tin. Roast the squash for 30 mins until soft and golden. While the squash is roasting, mix the crème fraîche and ricotta with half the Parmesan, then add the sage and the chilli flakes.Mix well and set aside.

2. Heat some olive oil in a pan and add the chicken. Chop the onion and add to the pan, cooking until softened. Add the mushrooms and season.

3. Put the pasta on to boil. Remove the squash from the oven and add to the pan along with the pine nuts, mixing well.

4. Just before the pasta has cooked, add the ricotta mixture to the chicken and add a good grating of nutmeg. Mix well. Drain the pasta and combine all the ingredients. Put it in a dish and cover with the rest of the parmesan.

5. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until the parmesan is crisp and golden. Serve with some salad and enjoy!

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