tortellini amatriciana... sort of

Today's soundtrack:
that annoying wasp that refuses to find it's way out of the kitchen, even though I've left the door wide open.  Just follow the fly out, you wee eejit!

Have I mentioned the Simple Spanish Food blog?  I came across it awhile back when I was searching for roscón de reyes recipes.  Amazing, authentic food.  If you have a real yen for Spanish cuisine, it's a great starting place.

But enough about Spanish food (and more about it tomorrow).  Last night was Italian night and I made tortellini amatriciana, which I based on another recipe found on the BBC's Good Food site.  Well, I say made, but the tortellini was fresh pasta from the Coop.  So really, I just made the sauce.  And how!

Ingredients:
a good dollop of olive oil (always extra virgin, by the by)
1 onion, peeled and grated
1 garlic clove, finely diced
3 thicker slices of proscuitto (or pancetta, or bacon), cut into thin strips about 3" long
5-6 tomatoes, roughly diced
1/8 - 1/4 tsp chilli flakes, depending on how much of a kick you like
parsley and Parmesan to serve

Using a frying pan over low-medium heat (although this depends completely on your stovetop - you want a decent sizzle), heat the olive oil for about a minute before adding the onion, garlic, and proscuitto.  Cook at a good sizzle until the onion is softened (about 5 minutes).  Then add the tomatoes and chilli flakes, and gently simmer for 15 minutes.

Whilst the sauce is simmering away, prepare the pasta.  Throw a bay leaf and a splash of olive oil in with the noodles and water (full disclosure, this was Miguel's idea).  When pasta is just done, and the sauce has finished simmering for 15 minutes, drain the pasta and add to the sauce.  Sprinkle on some parsley.

Serve up, with a bit of Parmesan on top.

Mouth-watering or what?  On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the furthest departure from Kraft Dinner with ketchup), this only rates a 4, whereas the haddock from the other day rates a 7.  After all, it's still a pasta... and a pasta I didn't make.  Granted, it takes more time to make than Kraft Dinner (12 minutes vs. 30 minutes), and it lacks the florescent orange "cheese", and least this pasta doesn't leave me with a pit of self-loathing.  So there's that.