Last night was busy, I finished work late and I hadn’t bought the chicken so I needed something quick, tasty and easy to prepare. You can always rely on pasta – and the ingredients are very simple you may already have them in your fridge. If you don’t have mozzarella, replace it with cheddar cheese. This meal got a thumbs up from everyone in the family.
- tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 small carrot, diced
- 1 celery stalk, diced
- 150g mushrooms sliced (I added these in they weren’t part of the original recipe)
- 400g tin chopped tomatoes (5-6 fresh tomatoes and blended)
- 45g small black olives, pitted (I used 200g prosciutto which I had in the fridge)
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 300g cooked short pasta (such as fusilli or penne)
- 75g fresh mozzarella cheese, torn into pieces (or grated cheddar)
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 6). Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium-low heat and cook the onions, stirring, for 5 minutes, or until soft. Add the garlic, carrots and celery and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes more.
Add the tomatoes and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the olives (or prosciutto if using), season with salt and pepper and remove from the heat.
Stir the tomato sauce through the cooked pasta and spoon into a casserole dish. Dot with the mozzarella cheddar and bake for 30 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbling.
Serve with crusty bread and a green salad.
This recipe is from Everyday by Bill Granger
