My 20 Minutes Meal Of Microwavable Tomato Pasta with Mozzarella

I have recently picked up on the 5.30pm Channel 4 show in Durham – ‘Jamie Oliver’s 30-minute meals‘ and am hereby mimicking some of his cooking ethos:

  • Always praise your cooking techniques and recipes.
  • Use cheater techniques to hasten the cooking process.
  • Squeeze lemon juice and drip olive oil into (virtually all) dishes to signal the end of cooking.

So here I have it – my very own 20 minutes meal, using a cheater technique (microwave), to produce the best microwaved pasta ever!

Ingredients:

  • Pasta: 200g
  • Olive oil: 1 tbsp
  • Salt: a pinch
  • Boiling water: 500ml
  • Tomato pasta sauce: 200g
  • Mixed peas: a handful, defrosted
  • Shredded mozzarella cheese: a handful
  • Cheddar cheese: 1 slice, torn into smaller bits
  • Sugar: 1 tbsp
  • Bacon slice: 1, sliced into strips
  • Ground black pepper: to taste
  • Mixed herbs: 1 tsp

Method:

  1. Add pasta, olive oil and salt to boiling water. Microwave on high heat for 15min.
  2. Drain water from pasta.
  3. Add the rest of the ingredients, mix and microwave on high heat for 3min.
  4. Give the mixture a stir and microwave on high heat again for 2min.
  5. Stir the mixture again and serve hot.

Tricks:

  • Boil the water first so that the pasta will cook faster in the microwave.
  • The mozzarella melts easily once it’s hot, creating cheesy trails when the pasta is scooped.
  • The sugar was added to sweeten the sauce. Typical tomato sauces tend to taste bland and a little too sour.
  • Other pasta sauces will work as well. Don’t add sugar if it’s cream-based though.

Serving:
1 – 2 persons

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