What's for Dinner? (Wednesday)
Wednesday's dinner is baked pasta.
I always make my own pasta sauce. This is a holdover from when I first moved to the UK and couldn't find a brand of sauce in Tesco that was worth the price. Now I find pre-made varieties both too salty and too sweet. And they never taste enough of vegetable.
Spaghetti Sauce
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T oil
1 small onion, diced
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1/2 C water
1 bay leaf
1 T basil
1 t oregano
pinch sugar
salt & pepper
Fry the onion in the oil until translucent; add the garlic and fry one minute more. Dump in the tomatoes, herbs, salt and water. Bring just to a boil, then turn down to low and simmer, half covered, at least 20 minutes. When the sauce looks thick and delicious, fish out the bay leaf and add two turns of pepper.
In this instance, I added yellow pepper and chard stems for extra nutrition. The former went in with the onions, and the latter with the garlic. When the sauce was done, I boiled the pasta, adding the greens to the water for the last 30 seconds. The drained pasta was mixed with sauce and covered with cheese and oregano, then baked in the oven for a few minutes until the cheese started to bubble. The timings were all screwed up, though, because I decided to make cookies at the same time.

