25 Mar 2013

my kind of lunch

Useful (and cheap) ingredients in the pantry, definitely canned tomatoes and fish! This is my kind of quick lunch at home. It might not look like much, maybe a plop on the plate, but it tastes so good especially with the addition of canned sardines!

Get the pasta boiling and sauce cooking at the same time to maximise time and efficiency. It'll be faster if you prep the ingredients beforehand, but it's fine to cook along as you go. You can stretch it out to 2-3 serves with the sauce, but I like my pasta extra saucey!

If you don't like sardines, try it with canned mackerel or tuna. Or even just with the tomato sauce itself!

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Sardine & tomato pasta for one!

1 serve of dried spaghetti
handful of string beans, top, tailed and chopped (or asparagus, ends removed and chopped)
1 small can of sardines in olive oil, drained
1 small brown onion, diced
8 baby capers in wine vinegar, rinsed
400g canned diced tomatoes
pinch of two of dried Italian herbs
sea salt, white/black pepper, sugar, to taste

Cook the spaghetti according to packet instructions. While that is cooking, pan fry the drained sardines until hot to remove the fishy smell. Set them aside and brown the chopped onions with a dash of salt. Add capers, canned diced tomatoes and herbs - be careful of splatter. Season with sea salt, white pepper and sugar and simmer away. In the final minute, add the prepared beans to the pasta pot. Drain pasta and beans and stir into the sauce. Add sardines on top and finish with a crack of black pepper (and a shave of cheese).