Tuna Lasagne

The Town Chef

My portions usually tend to be for more than one person, but that is not a bad thing.  It is good to have leftovers because it saves you time and money.  Also, it is good practise for when you feel like cooking for friends and family.  One must also be prepared for unexpected visits, which happens often to me, especially amongst West Indian and African communities.  So it is good practise to make extra food. When people come to my house I never want them to leave hungry or thirsty.  Good hospitality goes a long way. :)



This recipe was adapted from 'Morisson's Magazine' (Result Customer Communications, 2012).

Ingredients:
1tbsp olive oil, 1 onion (peeled and chopped), 2 garlic cloves, 1 1/2 courgettes (chopped), 2 spring onions (chopped), 2tsp dill, 2tsps marjoram, 2tsps oregano, 2tsps diluted fiery tomato ketchup, 2 x 121g cans of tuna in spring water, 2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes, 1tbsp tomato puree, 2tbsps green pesto, 40g low fat sunflower spread, 40g plain flour (sifted), 450ml semi skimmed milk, 200g reduced fat soft cheese, 15 lasagne sheets, 50g parmesan cheese (grated).

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a large pan then add the onion, garlic and courgettes.
2. Stir for 10 minutes then add the tuna, herbs, chopped tomatoes, puree and pesto.
3. Add the ketchup and spring onions then season again to taste.
4. Leave this to one side.
5. Start pre cooking the lasagne sheets ( I find that pre boiling each individual lasagne sheet helps to keep the pasta soft.  I advise you to do this even if the sheet claim you do not need to cook them.  There is nothing worse then eating a lasagne where the pasta sheets are still rock hard.)
6. On another hob, melt the spread in a pan and stir in the flour.
7. Cook for 1 minute then gradually add the milk. (This sauce requires much attention, so keep your eye on the prize.)
8. Stir continuously, until you have a smooth, thick and creamy sauce.
9. Beat in the cheese. (Aim for the same consistency, but a little thicker.)
10. Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees C / Gas 4.
11. Spoon half the tuna mixture at the bottom.
12. Layer with lasagne sheets, then sauce, then lasagne sheets, then tuna, then sheets, then sauce.
13. Scatter the parmesan over the top of the last layer.
14. Bake for 35 minutes.



Saffy's Top Tip

If you are not a fan of parmesan or do not fancy cream cheese, try other cheeses such as mozarella, cheddar or even gorganzola.

Sunshine Tortilla Wraps

Sunshine

These tortillas are so much fun to make and eat.  I named them 'Sunshine' because they are colourful, great to eat in hot weather and include the best guacamole I have ever eaten! 



Fajitas

For your fajitas assemble spicy chicken, sour cream, grated mild cheddar cheese, homemade guacamole and salsa in a wholemeal tortilla wrap which has been warmed for 20 seconds in the microwave.

Spicy Chicken

Ingredients:

Chicken breast (I used 4 which were washed and chopped into small pieces), 1 red chilli (chopped and deseeded), 2 1/2tbsps reggae reggae sauce, juice from 1 lemon, 1 garlic clove (peeled and chopped), 1 orange pepper (desseded and chopped), 1 medium courgette (chopped), 3tbsps (diluted fiery tomato ketchup or 1tbsp of Bajan hot pepper sauce) 1tbsp oil.

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a large pan.
2. Add the chicken and fry until the meat turns white.
3. Add the garlic and lemon juice.
4. Keep frying and occasionally stirring until the meat has nearly cooked.
5. Add the vegetables.
6. After 2 minutes add the chilli.
7. Add the reggae reggae sauce and fiery tomato or pepper sauce.
8. Let the stir fry simmer until the chicken and vegetables are cooked.

Homemade Guacamole

I made up this recipe while I was in the supermarket.  I am so pleased with how well it turned out. I never want to buy guacamole again!

Ingredients:

1 avocado (peeled, mashed up and seed removed), the juice from 1/2 lime, the zest from 1 lime, 1 medium tomato (chopped), 1 red chilli (chopped and deseeded), a pinch of salt, 2 spring onions (chopped into small pieces), 1tsp cumin.

Method:

1. Mix all of the ingredients together, but when adding the lime, salt and cumin keep tasting.  Too much of any of these ingredients will ruin the flavour.

Frozen Raspberry Topped Lemon Cheesecake

Hard Shell, Soft Center

I got my recipe for a no bake lemon cheesecake originally from James Martin, but I realised if I followed the recipe  my cake would have been a complete disaster.  As was preparing my fruit I discovered that there was a slight problem with his measurements. For example, he wrote 800g sugar (granulated!) and 600g cream cheese! This of course would never work, I decided to alter the recipe and make something which is very low in fat.  I also felt that to celebrate the hot British weather it was necessary to put a new twist on cheesecake and make it creme brulee style.  My cheesecake has a frozen top and and smooth creamy center, with a crunchy base.  Poor recipe to kitchen triumph! Saffy does it again! .... Puts on cape and stands pretentiously :)

Ingredients:

250g marscapone, 350g reduced fat soft cheese, 300g medium fat soft cheese, 11 digestive biscuits, 75g butter, the juice and zest of two lemons, 200g caster sugar, standard pack of raspberries.

Method:

1. Melt butter in a pan.
2. Crush biscuits in a bowl.
3. Mix the butter and biscuits in the bowl.
4. Place the mix in a tin and smooth. (roughly 23inches)
5. Chill the base for 15 minutes.
6. As the base chills mix all of the cheese and sugar, lemon juce and zest in a large bowl. (Do not over mix or the cheese will split.)
7. Pour this onto the hard base and chill in the fridge for 4 hours.
8. In the meantime blend the raspberries. (You can also add a little sugar for added sweetness.)
9. When the cake has set spread the raspberries over the top. (Do not worry if the juices run a little across the surface, the colour is beautiful and the more raspberries the better to get a better crunch.)
10. Freeze the cake for 2 hours.
11. When serving to get the best result and the smoothest center  leave the cake out for 20 - 30 minutes.

Saffy's Word

 I admit the preparation is quite different from the norm but the wait is worth it :)

Sugar Cherry Cookies

Compliments All Round

I just recieved compliments for my sugar cherry cookies.  Light, delicious and sweet... the perfect combination for an edibile treat.

This recipe was adapted from 'Sam Stern's Student Cookbook' (Walker Books, 2009)

Ingredients:

225g/ 8oz self raising flour (and a little extra for rolling dough), pinch of salt, 150g butter, 60g caster sugar, a little granulated sugar for sprinkling, egg whites (from one egg to brush cookies), 50g icing sugar, 1 egg (beaten), 45g glazed cherries (chopped).

Method:

1. Sift flour, salt into a bowl.
2. Cut in the butter.
3. Rub the butter, flour and salt with your fingers until the mix looks like breadcrumbs.

4. Add the sugar and mix.
5. Then mix in then beaten egg to make a dough.
6. Add the cherries and mix in.
7. Roll into a ball and wrap in cling film.
8. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
9.  Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C / Gas 4.
10. Roll out the dough on a floured board and cut out cookie shapes.
11. Brush cookies with egg whites and sprinkle with granulated sugar.
12. Cook for 13 minutes until a light brown on a baking tray.
13. Cool on the tray for 4 minutes before transferring the cookies to a rack.

Sausage and Bean Stew

Life of the Lowly

There is no shame in eating peasant style food, when you come from humble beginnings you should never forget the foods that kept you going and reminded you of home.  Beans definitely remind me of hard times, but I still love them because they are delicious and filling.  This stew is great, it is so simple and it really put a smile on my face.  I love food that is just comforting and lifts up your spirits when you have a 3 hour exam to prepare for.



Bean Madness

I have never cooked with butter beans before. Infact the only beans I think I have cooked are kidney beans and baked beans :)  I would suggest using a variety of beans and experimenting.  It's good to try something new.

This recipe was adapted from Asda's 'Fit 4 Life' menu plans

Ingredients:

2 quorn sausages or reduced fat sausages, 2tsps olive oil, 1 large onion (peeled and chopped), 2 garlic cloves (finely peeled and chopped), 400g passata, 1 tin of butter beans (drained from water), 1 big sweet potato (peeled), 1 medium courgette (chopped), 5 button mushrooms (chopped), 2 tsp dried mixed herbs, fresh avocado or basmati rice to serve or both.

Method:

1. Cook the sausages.
2. Cut the sweet potato into random segments and boil for a few minutes until soft.  Then cut into even smaller pieces.
3. While the sausages are cooking heat up the oil in the pan.
4. Gently fry the onions and the garlic for roughly 4 minutes.
5. Add the passata, and all of the vegetables including the herbs.
6. Let the stew simmer for 20 minutes and when vegetables are cooked.
7. Chop the sausages and mix in with the stew.
8. Stir for 2 minutes then remove from the heat and serve.

Fiery Pasta Bake

1st Pasta Bake

I thought I would make a pasta bake to help out a fellow final year by making sure they got some extra study time.  I have always avoided making this because I just felt it was boring dish.  I decided I would give it a try and realised I should never have dissed this student classic.  Once I put my own twist on it I felt it was a dish I could be proud of.  Anything can be tasty once you spice it up, unless of course it really is unedible.

Ingredients:

4tbsps fiery tomato ketchup (diluted with a little water), pasta shapes (enough to fill a pasta dish halfway), 1 can of chopped tomatoes, 300g grated mozarella and cheddar, 2tbsp mixed herbs, 1tbsp rosemary, 1tbsp oregano, 1 onion (chopped), 1 medium courgette (chopped), 1 garlic clove (chopped), 1tsp sugar, 1tbsp basil, a few shakes of paprika, 1tsp red chilli flakes a little oil.

Method:

1. Cook the pasta.
2. Fry the onion and garlic in a little oil until the onions become soft.
3. Add the chopped courgette.
4. Add the chopped tomatoes, herbs and spices, diluted ketchup and sugar.
5. Stir and cook for 7 minutes.
6. When the pasta has cooked drain and put into the baking dish.
7. Stir in enough tomato sauce to cover the pasta.
8. Mix in 200g of cheese.
9. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top.
10. Bake for 20 minutes.

Tomato Meatball Soup

Heinz Moments

On the back of my Heinz tomato soup tin I found a new meatball recipe using the soup as sauce.  I don't know why I never thought of this before.  I think it's a great idea because it feels you up a lot more than just the soup alone and provides some added protein. It can also be eaten with pasta or just eaten like a soup.



Ingredients:

1 can of Heinz tomato soup, 2 handfuls of frozen green beans, 1 garlic clove (chopped into small pieces), 1 red pepper, 1 onion (chopped), 8 - 10 frozen quorn meatballs, 1tbsp sunflower oil, 1tsp mixed herbs, 1tbsp liquid seasoning.

Method:

1. Fry the onion for 4 minutes then add the garlic.
2. Add the green beans and meatballs and fry for 4 more minutes.
3. Add the red pepper and stir for 2 minutes.
4. Add the tomato soup, seasoning then herbs.
5. Cook until the meatballs are cooked all the way through.

Apricot Breakfast Bars

Super Duper Geeky Sista!

My breakfast bars are officially my favourite pre workout snack.  They are very addictive so you may find yourself nibbling on the randomly throughout the day.  They are also great for studying.  Oh yes exam time is stressful and there is nothing worse then attempting to do a late night study munching on foods which do nothing for your brain power.  My breakfast bars last up to three days and are great for eating on the go.  I wanted to pack in as much nutritional goodness as possible from protein to vitamin c, but if you can't find the ingredients i've used, try crushing some nuts or use some other dried fruits.




Ingredients:

2 handfuls of linseeds, 2 mashed up medium bananas, 160g oats, 60g dried apricots (chopped into small pieces), a few shakes of flaxseed, 100g butter and 3tbsp of clear honey.

This recipe has been adapted from Morrison's Magazine (Result Customer Communications, 2012)

Method:
1. Mix the oats, dried apricots, bananas, seeds and flaxseed in a large bowl and stir well.
2. Place the butter and honey in a pan on a low heat then stir occasionally until the mixture has melted.
3. Pour the butter and honey in the large bowl and mix all of the ingredients together.
4. Grease a low baking tray with some butter and sprinkle with a little flour.
5. Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees C / Gas Mark 4.
6. Press the oat mix into the tray and smooth the top layer with the back of a spoon.
7. Bake the oat bars for 30 minutes.
8.  Leave the oat bars to cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars.

Courgette Chips

Baddest Chips in Town

I have always wanted to deep fry chips, a young Barbadian gentleman in 2010 hand made chips using a frying pan and I have always wanted to copy his  technique.  But I never thought for a moment it would be using courgettes!  Trust me though, these chips are delicious, so soft, chewy and addictive.  Yes people I have made a vegetable addictive!





This recipe was adapted  from 'The Best of Sainsbury's Vegetarian Cooking' (London: Reed International Books Limited, 1992)

Ingredients:

Work out how many cougettes you want to use first, then you can work out the amount of flour.
Number of courgettes divided by 10.

500g courgettes, 50g plain flour, salt and pepper, oil for deep frying.

Method:
1. Cut the courgettes into chips.
2. Season with flour salt and pepper and mix in a bowl, make sure the chips are coated in the seasoned flour.
 3. Heat the oil in a pan to 180 degrees to 190 degrees C / 350 degrees to 375 degrees F.
4. Fry the courgettes in batches for 5 minutes each.
5. Drain on kitchen paper.

Saffy's Top Tips:

1. Make sure you wear long sleeves when frying to stop oil from splattering onto your arms.
2. If this is your first time deep fat frying make sure someone else is in the room as this can be dangerous.
3. Do not drop the chips in from high, place the chips in close to the pan.  (Obviously not so close that your fingers fry too.  Common sense people!)
4.  Try dipping the chips in salsa and/ or mayonnaise for a snack.

Petite Herby Roast Potatoes

Fabulous Spuds

My cute potatoes taste rather splendid if I dare say so myself.  With just a simple mix of ingredients and good timing, these potatoes are a winning side to any dish which needs livening up. 

Ingredients:

Small potatoes (As many as you like, I used 8), 2tbsps rosemary, 1/2 tbsp garlic granules, 2tsp all purpose seasoning, 2tsps low fat margerine, 1/2 tbsp mixed herbs, salt and pepper.
 

Method:

1. Boil potatoes for 4 minutes.
2. Drain then squeeze, bruise, brek, cut them.
3. Put them back in the pot and heat it up a little, then add the margerine and cover the potates in it.
4. Remove from heat and add seasonings.
5. Cook in an oven 220 degrees C / Gas 7 for 30 minutes.  Or until they are cooked and crispy on the outside by soft in the middle.

Saffy's Top Tip

Cut bigger potatoes into wedges and follow the same process, but make roasted oven chips cooked for 40 - 50 minutes, then dip in sauce for a snack or side.

Student Chicken Ready Meal

Live like a student / Eat like a graduate

This meal is meant to look like one of those rough meals you get on the plane or at the supermarket.  Looks however can be decieving because this meal tastes so juicy and comforting.  I used extra lemon to make the chicken really succulent and added a few drops of reggae reggae sauce for a little kick.

This recipe was adapted by 'Sam Stern's Student Cookbook' (Walker Books, 2009)

Ingredients:

(numbers based on how much you can eat) small potatoes, a few carrots, a few green beans, washed and prepared chicken breast, 1/2 sliced lemon, basil/ rosemary and parsley, 2 salad onions (chopped into small pieces), 2 gloves garlic chopped up, salt and black pepper, reggae sauce, 100ml stock. (Again depending on how much food you are making you will need enough stock for roughly 4tbsps per chicken breast).  The stock must be made from no more than 1/2 a cube.

Method:

1. Boil the potatoes for 4 minutes, then add the carrots and beans and boil for 2 minutes.
2. Drain the vegetables.
3. Take out the potatoes and squeeze them so they bruise and crack.  Put them back in the pot then season with the herbs.
4. Put diagonal slices in the chicken breast and place on top of a large piece of foil.
5. Put the lemon wedges in between the cuts.
6. Place the vegtables around the chicken and shake a few drops of reggae sauce on the food.
7. Cook at 220 degrees C/ Gas Mark 7.
8. Drizzle some stock after 5 minutes.

Middle Eastern Meatballs

Spices

Never be afraid to season your food.  The more you practise the more you will learn how to balance flavours.  I adapted the spices of this dish to the original recipe becuase while I was making the meatballs I could just smell... very little.  I like my food to be flavoursome.  Salt and pepper for a Caribbean girl sometimes just isn't enough.  However, a good tip for spicing up your food is remembering that you can always add, but never take away.  So never go over the top or you might just end up insulting your taste buds.

This recipe was adapted from 'Asda Magazine' (Publicis Blueprint Ltd, 2012)

Ingredients:

1 slice of soya and linseed bread (crusts removed), 450g turkey mince, 2 salad onions (trimmed and chopped to small bits), 1tsp ground cinnamon, 2tsps cumin, 1tsp coriander, 3tsps chilli podwer, 1tsp paprika, grated zest of an unwaxed lemon, 1 medium egg (beaten), olive oil for frying, 1 chicken stock cube. To serve: 1 carrot, 1/2 courgette, wholewheat spaghetti pasta.

Method:

1. Make bread crumbs.  (You can whizz in a food processor but I just use my hands.)
2. Put in a large bowl.
3. Add turkey mince, onions, spices, zest and egg.
4. Mix with your hands and season some more.
5. Shape the mix into 12 balls.
6. Heat oil in a pan (not too much, just enough to fry.)  This is not deep fat frying!
7. Fry a few meat balls at a time, fry until the turkey mince is cooked all the way through.
(If you are making pasta start cooking it now.)
8. Meanwhile dissolve stock in 500ml hot water, and clean the frying pan or get another one.
9. When meatballs are done put into a saucepan.
10.  Cover the meatballs in the saucepan with the stock.
11. While the meatballs are simmering fry carrots in a clean frying pan, after 5 minutes add the courgettes.
12. Mix the veg with the drained pasta.
13. Place meatballs on top of the pasta and drizzle some stock over it.

Saffy's Top Suggestions:

1. Try the meatballs with wild rice.
2. Put the meatballs in homemade pitta bread, with lots of sauces to make a meatball slider.

Raspberry Blueberry Smoothie

This is really not a smoothie for the faint hearted.  It sounds like an innocent drink, but it is very bitter.  You are probably asking why I made such a concoction. Well, I invented this drink because I needed a super quick snack during my hectic day and realised this was a great quick and easy way to get a healthy burst of energy.  If you want to make is a bit tastier and less bitter and some banana and a dollop more yoghurt.

Ingredients:

A samll handful of raspberries, a small handfull of blueberries, 4 large dollops of natural plain low fat yoghurt, 2 regular spoonfuls of flaxseed.

Method:

Blitz everything in a blender!

Big Baked Lemon and Vanilla Cheesecake (Reduced Fat)

Cheesecake Challenge

I had been craving cheesecake for the longest time, but because of my strict diet it has been hard to just buy one and give in to temptation.  Even on an eating day or meal there was always another snack which I thought was a better option.  I decided to give myself a challenge and make a lower fat baked cheesecake, so on my eating day I wouldn't feel too guilty and I got to enjoy and delicious treat :)
This is the second cheesecake I have ever made in my life.  I am really glad it turned out so well.
I was also inspired to make it by my soca sister, she loves cheesecake so this was made also in honour of her birthday despite her being across the Atlantic.  It's the thought that counts :)

Decoration

The best thing about cheesecakes is that you are very much in control about how you want to decorate it.  In the book I adapted the recipe from I was inspired by the chef's use of physalis,  it tastes so sweet like Bajan Ackee and I love how it can just look like a flower.

This recipe has been adapted from 'Sam Sten's Student Cookbook' (Walker Books, 2009)

Ingredients:

225g digestive biscuits, 75g butter, 675g reduced fat cream cheese, 160g caster sugar, 3 small eggs, 1/2 rind of a small lemon, 2 squeezes of 1/2 a lemon, 2tsp natural vanilla extract, physalis.

Method:

1. Crush biscuits in a large bowl using a rolling pin.
2. Melt the butter in a pan then pour onto the bisuits and mix together.
3. Lightly grease a 24cm cake tin.
4. Press biscuit base into tin and chill for 15 minutes.
5. Blend the cheese, sugar, eggs, lemon rind, juice and vanilla.
6. Preheat oven to 150 degrees C.
7. Pour mix over the chilled base.
8. Bake for 35 minutes.
9.  Turn the oven off and leave the cake to cool and firm up.
10. Decorate.

Saffy's Top Tip

As it was my soca sister's birthday in Barbados I was dancing to soca as I made the cake and used a wooden spoon to bash the biscuits, which also worked my biceps.  So have you cake and eat more of it!

Spicy Honey and Oat Cookies

The Cookie Monster

The Cookie Monster would have been very happy to eat these cookies!  I could never understand that big blue furry creature's obsession with cookies, but after making and tasting these treats I definitely understand why.  I did not think these treats would live up to the description of spicy because I used so little ingredients.  Luckily I was wrong and my extra dose of ginger really packed a punch. 

This recipe has been adapted from 'The Best Of Sainsbury's Vegetarian Cooking' (London: Reed Consumer Books Ltd, 1992)

Ingredients:

125g butter, 5tbsps honey, 125g light soft brown sugar, 175g self - raising flour (sifted), 125g porridge oats, 50g currants, 3tsps ground ginger

Method:

1. Melt the butter with the honey in a pan over a low heat.
2. Put sugar, flour, oats, currants and ginger in a bowl and mix.
3. Add the melted butter and honey and mix.
4. Make 16 balls with the mix and press into a cooking shape.
5.  Put the shaps on baking sheets.  Place with at least 2 inches between each cookie.
6.  Bake in oven 180 degrees C, Gas Mark 4.
7. Cook for 15 minutes.
8. Transfer them onto a rack and leave to cool completely.

Saffy's Top Tips

1. Use two different types of sugars from a different texture.  Try a soft brown sugar and a more rougher granulated sugar.  105g soft brown sugar, 20g granulated brown sugar.
2. Bake for 15 minutes only, otherwise when the cookies cool down they will be too hard.
3.  If they do become a little hard, heat them up in the microwave for 20 seconds and drink with warm milk before bed..... Sesame Street taught more than just letters and numbers :)

Cauliflower Chowder

D Day

I made this cauliflower chowder the evening before my deadline day.  I had two essays to submit, so I knew I needed to prepare a healthy meal in advance.  All of the ingredients in the chowder are great for my diet and it's very comforting so it doesn't feel like healthy food at all.  That's if you're a fan of vegetables.





This recipe was adapted from Morrisons Magazine (Result Customer Communications, 2012)

Ingredients:
1tbsp sunflower oil, 1 onion (peeled and chopped up), 400g cauliflower (chopped into small pieces), 1 sweet potato (peeled and diced), 1 red pepper, 100g sweetcown, 100g frozen peas, 400ml vegetable stock (made from 1 cube), 1 1/2 tbsp cornflour, 400ml skimmed milk, 60g mild cheddar cheese, dried parsley to serve.

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a large pan and add the onion, cauliflower, sweet potato and red pepper.
2. Cook and stir for 5 minutes until the vegetables are soft.
3. Add the sweetcorn, peas and stock.
4. Bring the vegetables to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes until the vegetables are cooked.
5. Mix the cornflour with 2tbsp of cold water and stir into the soup with milk.
6. Add the cheese and heat through, stirring, until the cheese melts.
7. Season to taste and scatter parsley when serving. 

Saffy's Top Tip

After peeling and slicing the sweet potato put the potato in a pan of water and let it simmer for 10 - 15 minutes.  Sweet potato is a very hard root vegetable, so it is important to make sure it cooks for the same time as the red pepper and cauliflower to get the best flavour out of it.

Prawn and Mascarpone Pasta

1 recipe, a thousand interpretations

When I was a first year student my method of cooking tomato sauce was simply throwing chopped tomatoes in a pot with a little seasoning.  Now I am adding new seasonings and sauces and I'm becoming much braver when it comes to re inventing simple dishes.  When I mean simple I mean simple student food, of course to the Italians making just a good tomato sauce is a skillful technique to master.
 




The recipe has been adapted from 'Asda Magazine' (Publicis Blueprint Ltd, 2012).

Ingredients:

1 onion, 2tbsps olive oil, 3 garlic cloves, 400g plum tomatoes, 3tbsps tomato puree, 1tsp brown sugar, 3tsps basil, 2tsps dried oregano, 3tbsps of slightly diluted fiery tomato chilli ketchup, some frozen peas, 1 small bag of defrosted prawns, 1 large spoonful of marscarpone.

Method:

1. Chop up the onion and garlic. (Keep separate on the chopping board.)
2. Blend the plum tomatoes.  Then cook pasta to instructions.
3. Gently fry the onion in a pan with the oil on a low heat until the onion is soft.
4. Add the chopped garlic and cook for another minute.
5. Pour in the plum tomatoes.
6. Add the sauce, puree and sugar.
7. Cook through for 7 minutes (roughly), then add the peas and prawns.
8. When the peas and prawns have almost cooked and the herbs and marscapone.
9. Season to taste.
10.  Serve with pasta when everything has been cooked.

Saffy's Top Tip:

To defrost the prawns put them on a plate, cover with cling film and leave in the fridge for 6 hours.  If they are still slightly frozen, put them in a bowl with boiling hot water and leave for about an hour before using them.  They must be used the day you defrost them.  Always refer back to the packaging.