I cannot think of a better way to spend a Sunday evening than with friends enjoying a home cooked meal. Tonight was no exception and as a departure from the usual Sunday Roast is Pasta Sunday.

This meal is almost vegan; I say almost most because we enjoy an unhealthy sprinkling of Parmesan; whilst enjoying vegetable protein meatballs.

So for the ingredients I used chopped tomatoes, garlic, and Basil to begin the sauce. I added white onion, mushrooms and mixed herbs and the sauce reducing over a medium heat. After 20 minutes or so I reduced the heat to the lowest setting allowing all the wonderful flavours have an opportunity to mingle.

Needing to produce a dessert as well I turned to a much underrated kitchen godsend – a roll of prepared puff pastry. I wanted to make something not overly sweet nor too stodgy following the carb overload from the pasta.

I decided upon Cherry Turnovers. Cutting the puff pastry sheet into triangles I part baked these bad boys for 20 minutes or so, ensuring I had used a liberal coverage of ‘spray oil’ on parchment to avoid any ‘sticking’.

For the filling I chose 1/2 fat Creme Fraiche and preserved Cherries and a little of the syrup to avoid using any extra sugar. If there’s a lot of syrup try reducing this in a pan to make a thicker more flavoursome liquor for the fruit.

Once the pastry triangles had reached room temperature I daintily opened each filled with the rich creamy Cherry filling, then plated and returned to the fridge,

Almost the last phase is reintroduce some liquid to the sauce in the form of more tomatoes and heat thoroughly whilst simmering a good pasta. For this dish my personal preference is Rigatoni. Big wide tubes to soak up the lavish sauce and not forgetting, meatballs placed on top. Add your Parmesan to taste and you have an Italian Sunday roast – Buno Appetito