Tomato pasta (also known as I've got nothing else in the fridge pasta)

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After arriving home Monday night I was faced with the conundrum that has plagued man since the stone age

"What do I eat on the last night of the week before we do the shopping?"

Okay so perhaps the question might have been slightly different in the stone age, and was more along the lines of "Ugg, ug ug!", but you know what I mean.

Will it be the dreaded jacket potato of doom, or perhaps the fish fingers of disappointment (not that a fish finger sandwich is ever disappointing you understand)? So, upon opening the fridge I'm faced with not a lot of choice, but behold a punnet of tomatoes that haven't gone off yet, some garlic puree and a red onion. Hurrah, we're saved...

So, what do you need - this will comfortably feed 3-4 people:
  • 1-2 skinless chicken breasts, cut into small strips (optional)
  • 2 tbsp of garlic puree
  • 1 tbsp of dried oregano
  • 1 tbsp of dried basil
  • 2 tbsp of olive oil
  • 1 red onion, roughly chopped
  • 9-10 salad tomatoes, chopped in half
  • 250g of pasta
  • Salt and pepper to season
By the way, I've normally got a good selection of herbs and spices in my cupboard, and almost always have a "spare" bag of pasta hiding somewhere that I've forgotten about!

As with all of my recipes, before you embark on gathering all of this together make sure you check a few of your ingredients as some purees can contain processed sugar. It's usually pretty cheap and easy to grab ones without sugar from the fresh vegetable aisle in your supermarket (easy sugar-free cooking is all about checking the labels on your produce).

Preparation:

Prepare all of your vegetables and ingredients as set out above and set aside into separate bowls (this makes sooo much easier as you cook).

TOP TIP: When chopping the tomatoes I usually slice the tops off and discard them, it makes removing the skin easier later...

Boil up a pan of water, with a pinch of salt & a splash of olive oil added, for the pasta.

Cooking:
  1. Add the pasta of your choice to the pan of boiling water, once boiling again turn down to a steady simmer (remember to stir from time to time otherwise it'll stick to the pan);
  2. Add the oil, garlic, onion, and herbs to a large pan (as you know, I prefer a wok) and a bit of salt and pepper. Saute on a medium heat until the onions start to go see-through and the garlic becomes fragrant;
  3. Then, if you're using the chicken (if not go straight to step 4), add it to the pan and cook through until all the meat is well browned (i.e. you can't see any pink meat anymore);
  4. Now add all of the tomatoes to the pan, stir well, and cover it over to allow the tomatoes to sweat for 4-5 minutes;
  5. Once the tomatoes have sweated it should be pretty easy to remove the skins with a couple of forks from the pan. Of course, you don't have to remove the skins that's just personal preference;
  6. After removing the skins (or not, as the case may be) smash up the tomatoes and cook for a further 4-5 minutes. Normally at this stage, I would also add about 100ml of cold water;
  7.  Once the tomatoes have cooked through to a chunky sauce, drain the pasta;
  8. Then add the drained pasta (not the water, yes you, I'm talking to you there in the corner) to the tomato sauce and mix well;
  9. Serve immediately into warm bowls and enjoy!
I really hope you enjoy this recipe and can feel guilt free about eating my homemade food! I do a lot of my cooking off the cuff, and always adjust the amounts of certain ingredients to suit my own tastes, so the quantities here might need a bit of tweaking to suit yours, but I find they're great for most palates.

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