Beef & Pesto Ragu

We've just returned from a lovely holiday where we ate out a lot. When we come back from holidays I always find it hard to get back into the swing of cooking again, so finding a copy of Delicious on the doormat provided some much needed inspiration.

Included in this months Delicious was a supplement all about feeding your family for £5, something that lots of places seem to be doing at the mo. I tweaked the recipe for Pepper & Pesto Lamb with paste slightly to account for ingredients I already had in. For the 2 of us the ingredients came to less than £3. It was nice, but there was something missing and I'm not sure what. It didn't have the depth and flavours that my bolognaise has.

Tonight I'm leaving Hubby to his own devices as I'm off to gawp at David Tennant In Hamlet. I can't wait!

Beef & Pesto Ragu
Serves 2

250g beef mince
1 small onion, diced
1 tsp garlic paste
1 red pepper, diced
250ml passata
1 tbsp pesto
120g pasta

1) Gently fry onions until softened. Add mince and brown.

2) Once mince has browned add red pepper, passata and pesto. Simmer for 25min.

3) Cook pasta and stir into sauce.

Watercress, Feta & Pesto Quiche

Every couple of weeks I get a craving for quiche. Tonight I decided to use up the feta & eggs in the fridge so made a watercress, feta & pesto quiche, crushed new potatoes with (local) asparagus. I've never had watercress before, but really liked it. With a quiche you can essentially use any "filling" ingredients you want. When we're feeling unhealthy I make it with mushrooms, cheese, bacon and single cream or tomato sauce and sausages.

Watercress, feta & pesto quiche

1 plain pastry base (I'm rubbish at pastry and buy a ready made base)

3 eggs

100ml milk

1 bag of watercress, wilted

2 tsp of pesto

big handful of feta cubes

salt & pepper

1. Preheat oven to 160oc. Spread pesto on base, then sprinkle on feta. Wilt watercress in a pan, cool and squeeze out excess water then spread this over the feta.

2. Whisk egg, milk plus seasoning and pour into base. Don't overfill, I learnt this the hard way once when I opened the oven to find burnt quiche mix all over the bottom of the oven.

3. Bake for 30-40 till golden. Let it cool for 10 min before serving.

Crushed new potatoes

New potatoes

olive oil

seasoning

mint

1. Boil potatoes for around 10 minutes. Drain and spread out on a baking tray, lightly crush with fork/masher. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle on seasoning. Bake for about 25 min.