Spaghetti with squashed olives, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and chopped rocket

This is another Jamie Oliver recipe. His pasta dishes are pretty solid thanks to the influence of his mentor Gennaro, and they are usually not too tricky to pull together which suits me. I chose this dish as I had some leftover olives and wanted to find a new dish to throw them into.  This wasn't as saucy as Wil usually likes his pasta so he wasn't overly pleased with it, but after an hour and a half shaking my butt around it was perfect - not too rich and lots of flavour. This is another one of those dishes that I think would be perfect on a summer's evening with a nice glass of white, but it wasn't too bad on a chilly winter's night either. The amount below is enough for four - I kinda went somewhere between this and half as much and had enough for us two, plus a small lunch portion. Oh and I didn't use spaghetti, I think you could use whatever pasta you fancy.

olive oil

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped (I used two)

1 small dried chili, finely chopped to taste

3 good handfuls of cherry or plum tomatoes, deseeded and roughly chopped

1 good handful of olives, squashed and destoned

1lb dried spaghetti, the best you can get

salt & freshly ground black pepper

3 good handfuls of rocket, roughly chopped

Heat a large frying pan, add some olive oil and fry the garlic and chilli for 30 seconds before adding the tomatoes and olives. Toss over and allow to cook a further 4-6 minutes.  Meanwhile, cook your pasta in boiling salted water until al dente. The tomatoes will thicken into a lovely sauce with some nice fresh chunks in it as well (mine didn't but it was still tasty!).  Toss over and add to your drained pasta. Season to taste. 

Add the chopped rocket, toss quickly, and serve immediately with a green salad, some fresh bread and wine.