Tomato and Mozzarella Spaghetti - Quick & Easy Family Meals

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Before lockdown we had got into a bit of a routine in our house of eating the same meals almost on a rotation! Meal times had become more of a "necessity" rather than a chance to sit down as a family and enjoy a delicious meal. Of course this made me feel sad as we are all so busy with work, school and clubs it was just about the only time we really all stopped together. 

So when lockdown started I knew that this was the perfect opportunity to change that and two things that have really helped us make that change are meal planning and online shopping! We also regularly sit down as a family every few weeks, armed with a few cook books and made a list of our favourite meals and meals we would like to try, I then pick a few different ones to try when doing a weekly shop. One meal we recently tried was a super simple but totally delicious tomato and mozzarella spaghetti.

The meal takes around 15 minutes to prepare and cook in total so is ideal to put together in a hurry or as a quick, easy yet still fresh meal idea that the whole family can enjoy. This also means less time in the kitchen and more time together too. The flavours are classic Italian but all of the ingredients can easily be found online or in supermarkets. It's so easy to make even the kids can get involved with helping make different with this recipe. 

Below I have shared the recipe for this dish but it is such a versatile dish you can really make it suit your family with different additions. Some different combinations the kids have asked to have is bacon and mushroom or chicken and peppers so we will definitely be giving a few different variations of this dish a try at some point. 

To make this spaghetti dish you will need - 

- 500g spaghetti 
- 1 tub of Auricchio Mozzarella cherries 
- 325g baby plum tomatoes 
- 400g passata with onion and garlic 
- 1 tbsp tomato puree
- handful of fresh basil leaves 
- 1 whole onion finely diced 
- 1 clove of garlic finely chopped or crushed
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- salt for seasoning

Of course you can add more garlic, onions and basil etc as you create your dish taste as you go and adjust to suit your taste. 

To make the dish - 

- Bring a pan of water up to boil, add a pinch of salt and then place your spaghetti inside. Stir regularly until cooked.

- In a separate pan, whilst the spaghetti is cooking, place a dash of olive oil into a pan and gentle heat. Once heated add in your diced onion, garlic and cook until the onions are tender.

- Next halve your plum tomatoes and add these in with the onions and garlic. When the tomatoes have softened slightly add in the passata, tomato puree and the Italian seasoning and stir well.

- Drain off your spaghetti once cooked whilst the tomato mixture simmers gently.

- Just before you add your spaghetti place your basil and Mozzarella cherries into the tomato mixture and then stir in your spaghetti until all is completely combined. The heat will warm through the mozzarella slightly but wont heat it enough to melt.

- Serve up and eat straight away.

As you can see this dish is really simple and easy to make but it really packs a punch of delicious Italian flavours. Thanks to Ciao Gusto at Ocado, shopping for the ingredients for this dish is just as simple too as you can use the Ciao Gusto at Ocado tab to pick up all of your favourite authentic Italian food and drink. The Ciao Gusto tab brings together over 30 of Italy's most popular (and delicious) brands so you can find exactly what you are looking for all in one place as well as discovering new and exciting flavours.

The tab even allows you to search for recipes and add the ingredients straight into your basket eliminating the stress, time and confusion of having to search for ingredients individually. The tab includes brands such as Valsoia, Ponti, Barilla, Cirio, Lavazza, Santa Rosa, Auricchio and Riso Gallo as well as lots of new and exciting products to the UK.

Does this sound like a meal your family would love? What would you add to the dish to make it different? I think I am going to try adding bacon and mushrooms next time! Let me know in the comments below. 

You can find more delicious Italian recipe and meal idea inspiration over on the Ciao Gusto Pinterest page too. 

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**I received a Ocado voucher to purchase the ingredients for this recipe. However all words, opinions and images are my own.**