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Jamie Oliver is in Australia again at the moment, so I thought I’d review another of his 30 Minutes Meals – and this one’s a ripper!

By it’s title, I guess his wife, Jools, really liked this pasta when she was pregnant. It’s nutritious, tasty and so easy to make – I think you’ll be adding it to your favourite Jamie Oliver Recipes.

I used good quality pork sausages the first time I made it, but you could use beef sausages if you wish (Jamie’s recipe just says ‘good quality sausages’). I’ve since made it again using pork and veal mince (after all, sausages are basically made out of mince, plus seasoning) and it worked equally well.

I served this pasta with Pear and Parmesan Salad.

Don’t be put off by the long list of ingredients – most of it goes into the food processor at the beginning.

I scored this pasta dish 8.5 out of 10 and will definitely be making it again.

Here goes:

Jamie’s Pregnant Jools’s Pasta – Ingredients

• 4 spring onions – roughly chopped
• 1 carrot – roughly chopped
• 1 stick of celery – roughly chopped
• 1-2 fresh red chillies – chopped
• approx 400g / 14 oz good quality sausages
• 1 heaped teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• Lug of Olive oil for frying
• 500g / 18 oz dried penne pasta
• 4 cloves of garlic – unpeeled
• 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 400g / 14 oz tin chopped tomatoes
• Few sprigs of Greek basil, or regular basil
• Grated Parmesan cheese to serve

Jamie’s Pregnant Jools’s Pasta – Method

1. Put the spring onions, carrot, celery and chillies into the food processor and give it a good whizz
2. Add the sausages, fennel seeds and oregano and pulse until well mixed
3. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan
4. Add the mixture to the hot frying pan and cook (I used a wooden spatula to break up the mix)
5. While this is cooking, put the pasta in some boiling water to cook
6. When the sausage mix is cooked (it only takes around 5 minutes) add the unpeeled cloves of garlic, balsamic vinegar and tinned tomatoes and heat through
7. When the pasta is cooked, add the drained pasta to the sausage mix, allowing some of the starchy water to come with the pasta – give it all a good stir
8. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and fresh basil leaves and serve

Handy Hints and Variations

• As mentioned earlier, you can use any type of good quality sausages
• I tried using pork and veal mince instead of sausages and it worked well
• Jamie doesn’t mention discarding the unpeeled garlic cloves – but I think it’s best to take them out
• You could add 1 or 2 crushed garlic cloves to the sausage mix in the food processor – I did this the second time I made it, instead of adding the unpeeled cloves towards the end
• I only used one small chilli – use more if you like it hot (Jamie likes his chilli)
• Don’t leave out the fresh basil – it compliments the dish really well
• Try using other types of pasta

So there’s another of Jamie Oliver Recipes to try.  You can visit Jamie’s website.

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Jan Littlehales

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