This pasta and homemade garlic bread dish is absolutely great to feed a family of 4 for under a fiver. It’s a little carb heavy but it’s garlicky, creamy and delicious! You can’t go wrong! I use this particular garlic bread recipe as my go to!

When cooking this dish there are Two Main Components – the (1) BREAD and the (2) PASTA . Make the bread first and get it cooking in the oven, you can then make the pasta whilst it cooks!

1 – The Garlic bread!…

This bread is going to cost you about 60p to make based on the amount of the ingredient you use from the ingredients you buy. You will also notice that this recipe makes 2 batches of garlic bread. You can of course make one large garlic bread but I like to halve and either make 2 or keep one in the freezer.

Ingredients…

• 500g strong white bread flour
• 2 tsp fine salt
• 7g or one sachet of dried yeast
• 2tbsp or a couple of good glugs of olive oil
• 2tsp sugar
• 300ml warm water

• 3 bulbs of garlic
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp parsley, finely chopped

To make the bread…

1. Put your flour and salt in a big bowl, give it a little mix and make a well in the centre…
2. Put your yeast, olive oil and sugar into your jug of warm water, give a mix and leave for 30 seconds…
3. Now pour your water mixture into the flour bowl and slowly mix and bring together…
4. Once together – knead the dough until smooth and supple – around 10 minutes…
5. Place your dough in a bowl and cover with a towel until doubled in size…
6. Knock back, then divide your dough into 2, round off and place each half into a 2Ib loaf. I try and shape the dough slightly elongated to fit into the tin better.
7. Cover and leave for another 30-40 mins to prove until doubled in size
8. Bake for 30-35 mins until as golden brown as you like nd hollow to tap on the base.

To make the garlic butter…

*This will make enough garlic butter for this full recipe*

1. Cut the tops off of all bulbs of garlic. You want to cut enough off just to reveal the tops of all of the cloves. Drop a little olive oil onto each bulb, wrap in foil and pop in the oven at 180C/160C fan/gas 4 to roast for about half an hour. You want it golden brown and squishy!
2. Once the garlic is roasted and cooled, mix with the unsalted butter and parsley and set aside…

To Assemble the garlic bread…

1. Slice nice big slices into your garlic bread.
2. Peel each individual slice back and scrape a level tsp of garlic butter down each slice. If you have some left over you can go back and add to slices individually.
3. Wrap in foil back in the loaf tin you cooked it in and cook at 180C/160C fan/gas 4 for 10 mins covered.
4. After 10 minutes, fold the foil down so you can see the top of the bread and cook for a final 10 mins…

2 – The Pasta!…

This pasta will cost you around 3.60 to make based on the amount of the ingredient you use from the ingredients you buy.

Ingredients…

• 400g pasta
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp plain flour
• 250ml stock
• 120ml double cream
• 50g grated cheese
• Handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 5 rashers of bacon

Method…

1. Set the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas. Put the 5 rashers of bacon in the oven on a baking tray and pop it in until crispy – about 15 mins. If you are making the garlic bread you will already have the oven on.
2. Cook the pasta according to package instructions until al dente. Drain and set aside, reserving some pasta water.
3. In a large frying pan, heat a bit of olive oil over medium heat. Add minced garlic and sauté for about 1 minute until fragrant. Then add the flour and cook out for 2 minutes.
4. Pour in the stock and let it simmer for a few minutes to reduce slightly and thicken.
5. Stir in the double cream and let it simmer gently for another couple of minutes until the sauce thickens back up slightly. You still want a runny sauce as the pasta will soak it up.
6. Add the cooked pasta to the frying pan and toss to coat evenly with the sauce. If the sauce is too thick, you can add a splash of reserved pasta water to loosen it up.
7. Sprinkle grated cheese over the pasta and stir until melted and creamy.
8. Remove from heat, season to perfection and stir through the chopped fresh basil before serving.

Key ingredients…

Pasta…

The world is your oyster when it comes to the pasta. Use roughly the 400g in the recipe and you can change it up from spaghetti to literally any shape you want. Its a great dish with linguine and because of the cream in the dish I find whole-wheat pasta to be a great swap!…balancing out the healthy with the unhealthy…
You could also make your own pasta. It did look at costing it making homemade pasta aswell but you aren’t saving any pennies. You would most likely increase the flavour but you would also increase the time taken making it…you after all are already making the bread.

Stock…

I would only go chicken stock if you are looking to change it up, this is not a dish to be using beef or fish but each to their own. Iv used vegetable here as my wife is a vegetarian and its a family dish, however using chicken stock gives it a delicious meaty edge without increasing the value of the dish.

Cheese…

This, again, is a completely adaptable ingredient where you can almost choose any cheese you want. Iv gone for cheddar here as its simple, strong, delicious and relatively cheap but if you want to use any hard cheese or your favourite cheese thats fine.
I love a good strong cheddar but I have used parmesan if you are feeling flush or even a blue or Gorgonzola if you like the flavour – we do, its delicious!

Herbs…

I think the fresh herb in this dish is integral to balance out the rich creamy stock. You could change it up for any fresh herb but they will change the nature of the dish and I find basil in this particular dish to really work! Do feel free to try parsley, chives, tarragon or a combination of them…it will be delicious!
You could also try some thyme cooked off a little earlier in the dish when you put the garlic in…delicious!

Alterations and Additions…

• Spinach stirred through the dish at the end for a few minutes until it wilts would be delicious.
• You could fry off some mushrooms separately or at the very start of the dish before you add the garlic.
• You could sprinkle any type of fresh chilli on this dish for a kick of spice! Or even hot sauce is great!

How I cost a recipe?…

When I figure out the costs for my recipes I calculate in pounds and pennies the percentage of a product I use, therefore, in some instances, there will be some of the product left in the fridge or pantry. I will always try and use the whole of a product as you don’t want part wastage. This is something I am working on.