Wednesday night is always pasta night in this house (gym class doesn’t finish until 7, so need something quick to put together when I get back, hence the pasta dishes!) and after the tapenade I made the other day I was keen to make it again and incorporate it into my pasta dinner and thought that using it as a topping from some toasted pitta would be just the thing – and it was, it was scrumptious. I’ve also been using more passatta as opposed to the tinned chopped tomatoes as I think it gives my sauce a much richer taste to it, so I’m sticking with that for future sauce bases I think.

We’re doing the countdown now for our trip to see the family, checking the weather forecast, it was -7 yesterday, that’s right MINUS SEVEN, brrrrrrr. Planning my catch up sessions and trying to fit everyone in for coffees and lunches, I’ll need another holiday once it’s done! I might just get there though, sit in my nan’s cosy lounge and not want to budge an inch, but we’ll see how it goes!

Off out now for a girls lunch, menu options are very limited here as everything is so meat dense but I might be lucky and get a plate of chips with a side of hummus and salad!

A Simple Mushroom & Kalamata Olive Spaghetti Napolitana

MyInspiration Feel The Difference Range

Serves 2 as a main meal

180g Whole wheat Spaghetti

2 cups passatta

1 ½ tbs tomato paste

1 onion finely sliced

6 – 8 medium button mushrooms sliced

1 clove garlic

½ tbsp lemon juice

½ cup pitted and sliced kalamata olives

1 tbsp dried basil

½ tbsp dried thyme

½ teaspoon dried coriander

Black pepper to season

Method

1. Bring a large pan of water to the boil and add your spaghetti and cook as per instructions.

2. In a sauté pan add 2tbsp water and then add the onion and garlic and cook for 3 minutes before adding the passatta, tomato paste, lemon juice and herbs and mix together.

3. Add the sliced mushrooms and allow to cook on a low heat for 10 minutes before finally adding in the black olives.

4. Drain the spaghetti and add to the tomato mixture and toss thoroughly and serve.

I toasted some a whole wheat pitta and made a quick black olive tapenade to top it – ¾ cup chopped black olives, 1 clove of garlic, 1 tsp lemon juice and a pinch of thyme, quickly blitz together using a blender and spread on top of the toasted pitta. Scrumptious!