I’m not a big fan of thick, tomatoey pasta sauces and much prefer something light and not at all gloopy. This is a dish I return to time and again, often adjusting it depending on whatever I’ve got in the fridge or the cupboard, but it generally always includes rocket or spinach leaves, tomatoes, pine nuts and garlic – beyond that, knock yerself out experimenting!
Serves 1 | 15 minutes, start to finish
Ingredients
- 2 good handfuls of a pasta of your choice – I used rigatoni
- tablespoon olive oil
- 1 clove garlic finely chopped or crushed
- 2 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
- teaspoon capers, drained and chopped
- 10 cm piece of chorizo, sliced
- 6 cherry or baby tomatoes
- large handful rocket or baby spinach leaves
- tablespoon of toasted pine nuts
- freshly ground black pepper
- drizzle extra virgin olive oil
Method
- Get the pasta into a large pan of boiling salted water and at the same time, heat the oil in a small frying pan.
- Fry up the garlic and anchovies, pressing them down with a wooden spoon so they almost ‘melt’ in the pan.
- Add the chopped capers and chorizo and fry for 3 mins.
- Add the halved tomatoes and pine nuts and turn the heat up a notch. Fry for another 2-3 minutes.
- When the pasta’s cooked, take a small scoop of the cooking water and add it to the other pan.
- Pour the drained pasta back into the pot and add the contents of the pan plus the handful of rocket or spinach leaves. Give it a minute or so over the heat to wilt the leaves and mix it all together.
- Serve it up in a bowl with some freshly ground pepper and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
