Nigella's Curly Pasta with Feta, Spinach & Pine Nuts

I love a simple pasta recipe (don't we all) and this is another successful addition to my weeknight easy dinners rota. When I first came across it in Nigella Kitchen I wasn't sure what to expect and wasn't convinced it was a dish that would have a huge amount of flavour. I'm pleased to report that I was most definitely wrong on that score and it's certainly a recipe worth trying.

The big plus is that I almost always have all of the ingredients to hand so it doesn't require much in the way of forward planning. The allspice might seem a bit of an unusual addition and it does smell quite strong when you add it to the pan, however by the time the dish is ready that strength disappears and you're just left with a savoury hint in the background.

As I've halved the original recipe you only need to use half a pack of feta. If you don't have any plans for the rest of it then Jamie Oliver's Greek Chicken or Jo Pratt's Bulgar Wheat Salad are two fetatastic recipes. You can find them here.

Curly Pasta with Feta, Spinach & Pine Nuts
(adapted from Kitchen by Nigella Lawson)

25g pine nuts
1 tablespoon garlic oil
1/2 onion, peeled and sliced (tip - chop up the rest, wrap in cling film and keep it in the freezer for another time. You can fry it straight from the freezer)
250g curly pasta or other short pasta of your choice
1/8 teaspoon allspice
250g frozen spinach
100g feta cheese, crumbled
2-3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

1) Put a large pan of water on to boil for the pasta

2) Toast the pine nuts in a hot, dry pan (you can use the same one for the sauce later) until golden, then remove to a cold plate

3) Heat the garlic oil in the pan and add the onion slices (although if you've just used the pan for the pine nuts you might want to leave it to cool down a bit first to avoid burning the onions). Cook on a lowish heat for 8-10 minutes, stirring regularly, until soft. If they look like they're getting too brown, sprinkle with a little salt to help draw out the water and slow down browning.

4) When the water comes to the boil, add salt and the pasta.

5) When the onion is ready add the allspice. Then add the frozen spinach. Keep stirring to help the spinach melt consistently.

6) Just before you drain the pasta, scoop out a small cupful of the cooking water and add to the spinach sauce.

7) Crumble the feta into the spinach sauce, stirring as the feta gradually melts. Stir in 1-2 tablespoons of the parmesan and the taste to see if you need to add any more (unless, like me, you follow the can't-have-too-much-parmesan school of though, in which case you'll probably just throw it all in at once. And then add some more).

8) Drain the pasta and toss into the feta spinach sauce to mix, the season to taste. Add the pine nuts and mix through.

Serves 2 (this is half of the original recipe which was supposed to serve 6 so I guess you could split it between 3 of you. If you really wanted to. We didn't)

Jamie Oliver's Greek Chicken with Herby Vegetable Couscous & Tzatziki

I try very hard to limit myself to two new cookbooks a year - one at Christmas and one in the summer. I  already have way more than I need but not buying any new books is, obviously, unthinkable! Having said that, I had already failed by mid-March thanks to the new Clandestine Cake Club book and Paul Hollywood's Bread (both brilliant). Nevertheless, I still allowed myself my summer purchase and invested in Jamie Oliver's recent book, Jamie's 15-Minute Meals.

Both with this book and it's predecessor, 30 Minute Meals, there has been plenty of comment about how the titles are misleading. I would ignore any negativity, however, and buy this book because, so far, I've had nothing but success with it and if you get organised in advance then the timings aren't too far out. You have to have everything ready before you start the clock, pans heated, kettle boiled etc, so you will be in the kitchen longer than 15 minutes but even taking that into account you can get some great dishes on the table in a relatively short space of time.

Jamie uses some clever techniques to speed things up. In this recipe, for example, the chicken is flattened to decrease the cooking time and vegetables are finely chopped in a food processor, rather than by hand.

It's also clear that a lot of time has been spent making the recipes well balanced and relatively healthy so even the pasta dishes are served with a salad or something similar. Big flavours are also a key feature with various herbs and spices being used in most recipes to add interest.

On the negative side, Jamie does like to use a wide variety of ingredients that will leave you with leftovers to find a home for - half a bunch of dill, 2 teaspoons of harissa, 40g feta etc - so you might find you need to do a little extra research to find other recipes to use up what's left. He also uses chillis and coriander in a large number of the recipes, neither of which I like, however I've had no problems with leaving them out or replacing the chillis with a few dried chilli flakes.

This particular recipe was a real hit when I made it. The oregano and all spice gave the chicken an amazing flavour and the tzatziki was the perfect match with the warming heat of the peppers and chilli in the couscous. Once I had everything ready it took me around 20 minutes to get it on the table. I took a bit longer because I didn't want the pepper mix to be raw so fried it for a couple of minutes and I also didn't flatten the chicken quite enough so it took a little longer to cook.

I made half the recipe for two of us and the portion size was pretty much spot on.

I'll definitely be making this again and I urge you to try it too! You can find the recipe here.

The Lunch Challenge - Part 3

This next recipe was a real hit with me. Easy to put together, tasty and healthy - a real winner all round. As part of my lunch challenge I decided to try the Bulgar Wheat Salad with Feta, Pomegranate and Lots of Herbs from In The Mood for Food by Jo Pratt.

This book must surely be a contender for the prettiest cookbook award. Call me shallow but I do particularly like cookbooks that look nice, with lots of enticing pictures, and this book definitely falls into that category!

I had never tried Bulgar Wheat before as it just didn't sound very appealing and I nearly substituted it for couscous. I was worried that it would be a bit like brown rice, which I find a bit of a chore to eat, but I'm pleased to say that my fears were unfounded. It just tasted like a slightly larger version of couscous and, mixed with all of the other ingredients, was a pleasure to eat. I'll definitely be making this salad again.

Bulgar Wheat Salad with Feta, Pomegranate and Lots of Herbs

(adapted from In the Mood for Food by Jo Pratt)

100g bulgar wheat

125g feta cheese, finely crumbled

seeds from 1/2 pomegranate (I used half a tub of seeds from the fresh fruit section of the supermarket)

1 large handful of mint leaves, roughly chopped

1 large handful of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

2 ripe tomatoes, deseeded and chopped

1/2 bunch spring onions, finely sliced

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons lemon juice

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1) Cook the bulgar wheat according to the packet instructions and the rinse under the cold tap to cool it down. Drain really well and tip into a large bowl

2) Add the remaining ingredients and mix together well. Serve straight away or keep in the fridge overnight. I found this tasted nicer when it was closer to room temperature so you might want to take it out of the fridge half an hour before you plan to eat it.

Serves 2