Cooks: Spicy Parma Ham Pasta | The Weekend Post

If you follow my instragram you may have seen this photo last Saturday. I cooked this for my mum and dad last weekend and as promised here is the recipe. I love cooking but for me cooking is experimental. I generally chuck things together and hope that it works. This was pretty standard ingredients for me but it was Saturday and we wanted something quick so this is how to create my Spicy Parma Ham Pasta.

Ingredients:

• Pasta of your choice, I use Rigatoni
• Parma Ham
• 4 mushrooms
• 1 red pepper
• 1 large onion
• 2 teaspoons of red pesto
• 1 can of tinned tomatoes
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 teaspoons of hot chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon of oregano
• 1 teaspoon of paprika
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper

Firstly you need to create the paste that will form the base of the flavour for the dish. To do this you need a pestle and mortar or some other way of creating the paste, a food blender might work but I haven't tried so don't hold me to that. Add a fair glug of olive oil, the garlic cloves, chilli powder, oregano and paprika to your pestle and mortar and grind until a paste is created. You can add more or less spice depending on your preference I ended up adding more parika as I love the flavour it gives but it's completely up to you how much of the herbs and spices you use.

Next chop the onion and fry it off until it's browned slightly and softened. Then do the same with the pepper and mushroom. You can chop these any way you wish depending on how chunky you like pasta sauce to be. Then tear (with your fingers it's so much easier) the parma ham into shreds and add it to the pan. Once all the vegetables are softened and the parma ham is beginning to cook off add the paste and stir well to cover all the other ingredients. You want the paste to cook into the ingredients for about 5-7 minutes to make sure they soak up all the flavours.

Once everything in the pan is beginning to brown add the red pesto and tinned tomatoes. Bring this to the boil and taste. At this point you will probably want to add salt and pepper to taste you may also feel that you want to add more spices. This is all down to personal taste so season how you like. You want this to boil for a good ten minutes before bringing it down to a simmer to reduce and soak up all the juices. There's a thing that pasta sauces should be really liquidy and slop over the pasta. No. A thick sauce that sits on top is tastier and far nicer to eat. 

Once the sauce has begun to reduce cook your pasta. You all know how too cook pasta so I won't tell you but if you are unsure read the back of the packet. I find a handful per person plus one give about the right about of pasta generally. I also made a salad to with the pasta. A basic salad of spinach and rocket leaves with chopped tomato, cucumber and onions drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and seasoned with salt, pepper and parmesan cheese goes nicely with any pasta dish. I also cooked some garlic bread to go with it but this wasn't homemade because who's got time for that. Once your sauce has reduced nicely and your pasta is cooked, drain your pasta and mix the sauce through thoroughly making sure it's evenly distributed throughout. Once you've done that, that's it, serve and enjoy.

So there we go. A simple, easy, tasty pasta dish perfect for a Saturday night in in front of the TV. If you try it out let me know how it goes.

Enjoy.