Four Ingredient Pasta

Sometimes you have to produce a meal out of nowhere.  You may have planned something, but the circumstances change and you are left wondering what you can now have.

The other day Mr. CCC took me out to lunch - we had my favourite - Bibimbap!!  Needless to say afterwards we didn't feel like too much for dinner.  So the dukkah crusted chicken with quinoa salad was put on the back burner, and something quick and easy was needed for "the Darlings".

If you have three basic ingredients on hand, you are well on the way to making a dinner that even the fussiest of kids will love.

So what is the fourth ingredient?  You can add whatever meat you have on hand - ham, a BBQ chook, or even tuna!!

Four Ingredient Pasta


Serves 6


500g macaroni
415g can tomato soup
1 x BBQ chicken, meat removed from the bones 
150g grated cheese


Preheat oven to 180 C.


Cook macaroni in boiling salted water, according to packet directions.  Drain.  Add the can of tomato soup, and chicken meat.  Mix well to combine all ingredients.  Place pasta mixture in a greased casserole dish.  Sprinkle grated cheese on top.  Bake in oven for approximately 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and golden.

How easy was that???  How cheap was it to make?  With the pasta at around 59c and the soup less than $1  I say it has got to be one of the cheapest meals ever!!!  The kids love it - I think because the tomato soup is a little sweet, as opposed to regular pasta sauce.  Whatever the reason, all the people that I have told about this recipe say their kids love it too!!

Keep these basic ingredients on hand and you will never be at a loss for a meal again!!!

Sang Choi Bow

Dear Readers can you see me doing a little dance of happiness???  Not only did I get one of "The Darlings" to eat some vegetables last night, but my little budding Junior MasterChef cooked the dinner as well!!!  What joy!

Together we tasted, and came up with this recipe as our version.

Sang Choi Bow


Serves 4-6 (depending on how much they like it!!!)


1kg pork mince (you can also use chicken mince)
1tbs sesame oil
4 shallots (green onions) diced
1 tbs ginger, finely diced
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 carrot, shredded
1/2 - 3/4 can (230g) water chestnuts, finely diced
150g rice vermicelli
3 tbs Shao Xing cooking wine
3 tbs soy sauce
3tbs oyster sauce
4 tbs hoi sin sauce
50g toasted sesame seeds
1 iceberg lettuce


Now the hardest part of this recipe is separating the lettuce leaves.  I have tried several ways - smashing the core on the bench (nup - just bruises the base of the lettuce) - I think the best way is to cut the core out - supposedly if you run cold water into the lettuce it magically separates - but I really haven't had huge success with that either.  So just cut the core out and gently prise the leaves apart.  Wash under cold water and drain well.

In a frypan over medium high heat add the sesame oil.  Gently fry the shallots, ginger and garlic for approximately 3 minutes, or until the shallots have softened.  Increase the heat to medium-high.  Now add the pork mince.  Breaking up the mince as you go, cook the mince until it has all browned.  At this stage I like to discard the excess fat.  I do this by tipping up the frypan and absorbing it all with paper towels.  Mr. Jr. MC wanted me to show you how we did it .....

Now that the meat is cooked, it is time to soften the rice vermicelli.  Simply place the noodles into a bowl and cover with boiling water, leave for 5 minutes.  After 5 minutes, snip with a pair of scissors (to make sure you don't have too many long pieces!!)


Back to the mince, now it is time to add all the sauces, cooking wine and the vegetables.  Taste - adjust to your personal tastes.


To toast the sesame seeds heat a small frypan over medium heat, stirring constantly, cook until the seeds start to brown.  Remove from the heat and the pan.


Add the sesame seeds to the mince mixture.

Serve in lettuce cups.  Enjoy!!!

And enjoy it he did after all that hard work!!!

It just goes to show you that if you give them some "ownership" of the meal you can get them to eat things they may not normally eat!!!