Store Cupboard Pasta

March 24, 2014


I will alway maintain that I am a cook. Not a chef. I think it's a very important distinction, chef's train long and hard to perfect their air. The work incredibly long and taxing hours and often under the command of very shouty bosses. To me a cook is someone who's education and instruction has been learned and delivered from childhood by parents and grandparents, developed through a series of semi-serious kitchen disasters and resulted in a hugely experimental and versatile set of skills.

I pride myself on being able to peek into the fridge and create something delicious from within, I still don't have a decent set of utensils and cookware but I make do with what i've got to make tasty things. I work full time and live in an area where grocery shopping means a car drive over to a large store out of town- Tesco Metro it ain't. By no means is this a 'woe is me' tale it's just life, like most of us lead and what I'm saying is that a cook is the person than schleps in around 6pm only to be faced with a fridge of odds and ends and whips up something that not only looks passable but tastes pretty bloody good as well!

This store cupboard pasta, loosely based on a puttanesca, is a store cupboard favorite when it's 8pm and my will power is holding me back from the take out menu.


Ingredients: To serve two,

3 cloves of garlic
1 can tuna
10ish green olives
half a jar of artichoke hearts
spaghetti- a generous fistful for 2
1 frozen cup of tomato sauce
parmesan to serve
salt and pepper

Method:

Pour boiling water over the pasta in a saucepan, season with salt and leave to cook until tender.

Meanwhile finely chop the garlic and throw into a pan with some roughly chopped olives and the artichokes.
Fry until the garlic is soft and smells sweet.

Set on a low heat and add the frozen cup of sauce, leave it to melt on the low heat.

When the pasta is cooked, drain and set aside. Once the sauce has melted and has begun to bubble, stir through the pasta and the tuna. Leave on a low heat until the tuna has heated through, don't over heat it as it will become chewy.

Serve with a generous shake of parmesan and some garlic bread if you are so inclined!






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