Recently on a whim I decided to
make a baked spaghetti dish for supper with my dad, using odds n ends up from
the fridge, it worked so well – with the spaghetti providing a nice change to
usual fusilli or penne that I tend to use in pasta bake and when Sainsbury’s
got in touch about creating something with one of their organic hero ingredients
I decided to try out their Organic pork sausages in another version of it. To be honest I
couldn’t wait to try it again as we enjoyed it so much the first time around
and was more than willing to try out an organic version!
Overall I was really impressed
with the ingredients – I buy a small amount of organic food, in an ideal world
I would probably buy more but it just doesn’t work in our household budget but
I managed to make this from mostly organic ingredients for a total of £6.55 to
serve 4 comfortably, which I am very happy with! I did however add a bag of
salad and made some garlic bread so upped the cost slightly, though that did
cover meals for the following day too so was still affordable.
One of my favourite discoveries
were the sausages, they were so delicious! Meaty, no gristle or strange goo in
the grill tray and a lovely porky flavour. Definitely something affordable at
£3 for 6 and when stretched out into a pasta bake it was more than enough for
us! The mozzarella too was really tasty, I adore cheese anyway and liked the delicate,
milky flavour though would add bigger chunks next time – I think I was too mean
chopping it too small it got a little lost in the bed of spaghetti! We all loved the wholewheat spaghetti too, I have been trying to switch to more wholemeal and brown foods to boost nutrition and it worked perfectly in the bake, adding a nice nuttiness to the flavour.
I have also found a novel way to measure spaghetti - when I normally cook midweek I rarely weigh anything but for the sake of my readers I measured it out - and spaghetti doesn't quite fit anything other than the packet uncooked - my teapot worked a treat!
Chilli wise – I was not brave
enough to add the whole one but they did turn out milder than expected – its
best to add half, taste then decide! I was wary after a recent Szechuan incident hence my caution!!
simmer for 15 minutes.
To assemble, stir the cooked
sausage pieces into the sauce and add the drained spaghetti and toss to fully
mix the sauce. Spoon a layer into a deep baking dish – mine is roughly a4
sized, and sprinkle over a little mozzarella, repeat with the final layer being
the remaining mozzarella and some shredded basil leaves to garnish. Bake for
25-30 minutes on the top shelf or until the top is starting to lightly crispen.
Many thanks to Sainsbury’s who
provided vouchers to cover the cost of the ingredients and towards my time
developing the recipe.
