Jamie Oliver is tops in my book. I can’t help but respect and admire anyone who is that passionate about issues that are important to him and puts his money where his mouth is. He goes out on a limb for what he believes in – sometimes that pays off and sometimes it doesn’t, but the important thing is that he doesn’t give up just because something doesn’t work. He’s one of the few celebrity chefs out there who I’d love to meet as a person, not just for the great food he makes. How many young twenty-somethings suddenly achieve huge fame and fortune and promptly start a foundation to help young people in a bad place turn their life around? Big respect.
And have I mentioned his food yet? Simple, good ingredients, recipes that are heavy on the fun and light on the fussing; perfect for a Friday night. This comes from one of his biggest selling books in Australia, Jamie’s Italy. It came together quickly and was so damn yummy! The chilli flakes are my addition and they were just perfect on yet another freezing Melbourne winter night! It’s a simple pasta that’s done in the time it takes to cook the pasta itself; a delicious basil almond pesto lightened with the addition of fresh cherry tomatoes.
Serves 2
200 gm dried spaghetti
salt & cracked black pepper
good pinch of chilli flakes
75 gm almonds
1 clove garlic
2 large handfuls of fresh basil, leaves picked (1 supermarket bunch)
75 gm freshly grated parmesan
good olive oil
1 punnet cherry tomatoes
Put the spaghetti on to cook in plenty of boiling salted water.
Meanwhile, warm the almonds in a dry frying pan and then whack them in a food processor. Process until they are finely chopped. Add the basil, garlic, parmesan, chilli flakes and a good glug of olive oil. Process again until the mixture comes together. Remove to a bowl and add salt and pepper to taste.
Squish the cherry tomatoes with your hands and add them and their juices to the rough pesto; taste again and adjust seasoning as necessary with some extra olive oil to loosen the mixture if needed.
Drain cooked pasta and return to saucepan; toss through the pesto tomato mixture and serve.
