Pasta di Natale
Home cook: Sharmini Jayawardena
Serves one person.
1 1/2 hrs prepping time.
Ingredients
30gm cooked pasta
1/2 medium onion chopped or sliced
5 cloves garlic chopped finely
3 tbls grated cheddar cheese
2 tbls grated Parmesan cheese ( medium flavour)
Reserve part of the grated cheese for later
Dash of heavy cream
2 sprigs of Cuban oregano
3 sprigs oregano vulgare
1 sprig thyme
3 leaves basil
(Remove the leaves of part of the herbs and set aside for garnishing)
1 chopped tomato
Sea salt, black pepper, sugar, chili powder to taste
2 tbls coconut oil
All the herbs used in this dish were grown in our home garden.

Method
Cook the pasta al dente. Reserve the pasta water which is liquid gold, for adding to the dish along with the heavy cream. Save the rest of the pasta water for using in your soups and stews.
1. Heat coconut oil in pan and sautรฉ onions. Then sautรฉ garlic.
2. Add tomato and add the leaves of herbs to the sautรฉ.
3. Add salt, pepper, sugar and chili powder to taste.
4. Add the pasta and the cheeses and stir and remove from heat. Add the dash of heavy cream, and a spoon of pasta water. Stir and plate it in a deep plate.
5. Garnish with all of the fresh herbs and sprinkle the reserved grated cheese over the pasta.
6. Serve hot.
The dish does literally have Christmassy colours written in it