Ok.  So it’s not really called Trapattoni sauce.  It’s called Trapani-style rigatoni and it’s a super quick fix beautiful pasta sauce to make your mid-week dinner taste amaze.

It’s from Jamie Oliver’s 30 Minute Meals, which doesn’t seem to be ageing all that well as a whole cooking concept.  I’m still getting a lot of use out of the book, even if it’s just for picking out easy and quick tricks like this pasta sauce.

Rigatoni is a wonderfully ginourmous pasta, and takes about 14 minutes to cook.  In that time, you can whizz this sauce together in your food processor or hand-held blender, and all of a sudden your Tuesday/Wednesday night meal has gone from meh to WAHEY!

I was reminded of this sauce last week when my friend Aoife Barry made me a very similar sauce for an entirely vegan pasta lunch.  This recipe isn’t vegan because of the addition of anchovies, but remove them and this is a good one for meat-lovers, veggies and vegans alike.

You do need a food processor or a little whizzer for this, however.  I got my food processor in Argos last year for €39, and although it won’t last me forever, it’s a very handy machine, and will certainly keep me going til I can get a better model.  Even one of those info-mercial handheld gizmos are brilliant for these kinds of sauces.

What you need for Jamie O’s quick pasta sauce for 4

* I halved this recipe exactly and it worked a treat for 2

500g dried rigatoni (if you can’t find rigatoni you can of course use any other pasta of your choice)

40g Parmesan cheese

100g blanched whole almonds

2 cloves of garlic

1 fresh red chilli

2 large bunches of fresh basil

4 anchovy fillets in oil (omit if cooking for vegans)

450g cherry tomatoes (I used tinned of cherry tomatoes with the juice drained, as tomatoes are not in season at the moment.  The tinned type were perfect for this recipe.  If you can’t get tinned cherry tomatoes, just use the regular tinned tomatoes!  One tin for two people, two for four)

Put a large saucepan on a high heat and fill with boiled water from the kettle.  Once boiling again, add a pinch of salt and a drizzle of olive oil.   Add your rigatoni and cook to packet instructions.  Should take 14 minutes.

Using a food processor, put the Parmesan, 100g almonds, 2 peeled cloves of garlic and your chilli (with the stalk removed).  Whiz until fine.  While the processor is still running, add 1 1/2 bunches of basil, 4 anchovies (omit if cooking for vegans!) and your tinned/fresh cherry tomatoes.  If you’re using tinned tomates, don’t forget to drain the excess sauce before adding to food processor.

Whiz to a paste, then add a glug or two of olive oil.  About 2 or 3 tablespoons.  Taste and add salt and pepper if you think it needs it.

Your pasta should be well cooked now.  Drain and put back in the pan.  Add your tomato paste and stir until all the pasta is coated.  You can add a little boiling hot water to make the sauce more silky if you like but it should be lovely as it is.

Serve with a few of the nice little basil leaves on top and enjoy a lovely dinner on a tired Tuesday evening.

TUNE

I’m loving Holy Ghost at the moment.  Follow the link to have a listen to their latest single, Wait & See.

Holy Ghost – Wait & See (via The Hype Machine)

Categories: Dinner, Lunch