Cathal's Creamy Tomato and Chorizo Pasta Bake

When someone else offers to cook dinner I always accept, so when my five-and-a-half year old asked if he could I thought it would be giving a bad example not to let him. Together we chose a recipe that (a) he would eat and (b) he would be able to cook without too much intervention, or knife skills.

I really think it’s important to let kids help in the kitchen, whether it’s to butter their own bread or help to chop vegetables. It’s a much better life skill to give them than knowing how to bake cupcakes. (I’ve written about this before too HERE)

The recipe we chose was in the Family Food Cookbook that Paul Flynn did for Lidl a few years ago. Cathal did everything himself except boil the kettle and drain the pasta, and plug in the blender.

The result was a delicious dish that is back on the meal plan in this house again. You could add vegetable, I’m thinking a grated courgette or some frozen peas would work well. We just served it with green salad (that Cathal made).

You can use this sauce with a variety of fillings for the bake, try cooked chicken, ham or lightly sautéed veggies.

 

 

Creamy Tomato and Chorizo Pasta Bake

Ingredients:
300g Pasta pieces- (penne/fusili would work well)
1 400g tin Chopped Tomatoes
100g sliced Chorizo, roughly chopped (I gave Cathal the kitchen scissors to cut this up)
2 cloves of Garlic, chopped
150ml  Cream
1 Chicken Stock Cube
A pinch of Sugar
Grated Cheese to taste- we used red cheddar as the kids prefer it but Parmesan would work well
Salt and Pepper to taste

 

Preheat oven to 180C. Cook the pasta as per the instructions on the packet (not too soft now).

Next you need to blend the tomatoes, cream, garlic, sugar and chicken stock cube together. You can use a blender/food processor or a stick blender. We used a stick blender this time as it’s easier to wash up.

Get a baking dish ready, we used one we use to make lasagne or shepherd’s pie. When the pasta is cooked, drain it and put it back in the cooking pot, then add in the blended sauce and chopped chorizo and mix (Add any additional veg here too). Season with salt and pepper, then transfer into a baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese to taste.

Bake the pasta in a hot oven (180° C) for 15 – 20 minutes until hot and bubbling.

Enjoy

It’s getting closer, which means I’ll stop asking soon!! I am one of only ten finalists in the Boots Maternity and Infant Awards in the “Best Parenting Blog”. Thanks so much to everyone who voted for me in the first round. Voting in the next round is open until 28th August and you can vote from anywhere in the world.  You can vote by clicking here or on the massive pink button above and choosing Bumbles of Rice. (It’s easiest to do if you click the Facebook option). Any votes and shares are very, very much appreciated.  Thanks!

 

And did you know you can also find Bumbles of Rice on INSTAGRAM (trying out the stories and getting into the swing of doing the short videos, you can see what I am up to, how tired I really look, what I sound like, and whether I forget to tidy the background in a clip, fascinating stuff you don’t want to miss.)

And you can like the page on FACEBOOK where I share lots of bits and pieces that might make you laugh, or help you out.

Thanks for reading.