Pesto & tomato pasta with crispy crumbs
- Preparation and cooking time
- Prep:
- Cook:
- Easy
- Serves 5
Skip to ingredients
- 1 onionfinely chopped
- 3 garlic clovesfinely chopped or crushed
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- x cans chopped tomatoes
- 2 tsp sugar
- 190g jar basilpesto
- few capersor olives (optional)
- 140g white bread- stale or fresh, whizzed into crumbs (or 140g/5oz breadcrumbs)
- 50g pine nutsroughly chopped
- 4 tbsp grated parmesanor vegetarian alternative (optional)
- 25g butter
- 350g/12oz-400g/14oz linguinespaghetti, tagliatelle or whatever you have in the cupboard
Nutrition: per serving
- kcal659
- fat29g
- saturates7g
- carbs82g
- sugars10g
- fibre5g
- protein22g
- salt1.51g
Method
step 1
Gently cook the onion and half the garlic in 2 tbsp olive oil for 10 mins until soft. Stir in the tomatoes and sugar and simmer for 15-20 mins until saucy. Stir in half the pesto, some seasoning and a few capers or olives, if you have them. Cover and keep warm.
step 2
While the sauce is simmering, heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Toss the crumbs in a large baking tray with the remaining 2 tbsp olive oil, the rest of the garlic, the pine nuts and Parmesan, if Simple yet special storecupboard supper using. Bake for 10 mins, stirring a few times, until golden. Dot over the butter and return to the oven for 2 mins more.
step 3
Meanwhile, bring a pan of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta. Drain, reserving a little cooking water. Stir through the sauce with a splash of cooking water to loosen, if you need to, ripple through the remaining pesto and serve scattered with golden crumbs.
