Yeah, okay, it’s true. My lunch yesterday was a tin of sardines and I’m going to lose marks for everything here. Where they on a plate? No, out of the tin. Sitting down? No, standing up at the counter. I didn’t just have a tin of sardines, I had a bowl of cereal as well. Honestly, I had a good reason. I had a friend coming around and there just wasn’t time….
So today, to make amends. While a saucepan of spaghetti is doing its thing…
Toast some pine nuts in a frying pan. Don’t burn. Take out when a little brown flecked. Take some good quality bacon with rind, fry the rind in the same pan to render the fat….NOT just to render the fat…when the rind is ready, take out and eat. Please don’t tell me you think that is wrong unless you do actually cook roast pork without crackling.
Add some olive oil to the bacon fat and then the chopped up bacon, fry for a bit and then lower heat to very low and add some chopped garlic. We do NOT want to burn the garlic, we are Italian today, so stir a few times and take off the heat, let sit.
Destem lots of baby leaf spinach – you will NEVER have too much, it just disappears. Grate parmesan cheese.
A minute before the spaghetti is ready, put the frying pan back on the heat, when oil is hot again, throw in spinach and then the drained spaghetti. Mix through the pine nuts.
After you have put this concoction in bowls, splash a little best quality olive oil on top (you used whatever your standard cooking olive oil earlier in the cooking…good quality but not best) and then parmesan. Lots of freshly grated pepper before and during eating.
One of the spaghetti dishes to which I’m addicted. I gotta say it does beat tinned sardines and cereal….
This and That 
I tried the spaghetti dish tonight on my wife and daughter. Well, almost. I skipped the pine nuts. I figured they were going to be doubtful even without, and indeed they were when I fessed up late this afternoon (too late to change the menu, oh dear).
And the review?
– Yum. I’m cooking that again soon
– We could have that again
– It was good. Can I have some cake now?
That’s about 4 thumbs up. Easy and delicious. Definitely going in the kit bag!
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Ben, that’s great! I must say I was nervous about the idea of no pine nuts as they seem crucial to me. Good to hear when they aren’t in the cupboard I can still give it a go….
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