Bish, Bash, Bosh!

This cheeky little pasta dish is so quick to rustle up in the evening. We use wholewheat pasta as it is higher in fibre. It’s a great recipe for batch cooking – make multiple helpings of the sauce and store it in the freezer for up to a month.

PREP

30g fresh parsley

1 medium onion

2 garlic cloves

1 red pepper (about 100g)

1 medium carrot

1 tbsp olive oil

1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes

400ml water

1–2 tsp chilli sauce

¼ tsp dried oregano

½ tsp chilli flakes

1 tbsp nutritional yeast, optional

salt and black pepper

FOR EACH SERVING

100–110g dried wholewheat pasta

50g asparagus

1 tsp olive oil

½ lemon

30g mixed salad greens, to serve

salt

The night before | Fine grater or Microplane | Food processor | Medium saucepan | 2 x airtight containers

Remove the leaves from the parsley and place them in the fridge either in an airtight container or on top of some kitchen paper

Peel the onion | Peel and grate the garlic | Cut the pepper in half and cut out the stem and seeds | Trim the carrot | Put the parsley stems, onion, carrot and pepper into the food processor and blitz until finely chopped

Put the saucepan on a medium heat and pour in the oil | Tip the chopped vegetables from the food processor into the pan and sauté for 8 minutes, stirring | Add the garlic and sauté for 2 minutes | Add the chopped tomatoes, water, 1 teaspoon chilli sauce, the oregano and the chilli flakes | Taste and season to perfection, adding more chilli sauce if you like | Simmer for 10 minutes, until the sauce is thick | Add the nutritional yeast, if using | Divide between the containers, leave to cool and then refrigerate

The next day | Large saucepan of boiling salted water on a high heat | Griddle pan on a high heat | Small saucepan, optional

Add the pasta to the pan of boiling salted water | Cook following the instructions on the packet, drain and tip back into the pan

Meanwhile, rub the asparagus spears with the oil and lay the spears across the lines of the hot griddle pan | Cook for about 5 minutes without moving the spears, until they have black char lines | Turn them over and repeat | Cut the lemon in half | Finish the asparagus with a sprinkling of salt and squeeze over the juice of half the lemon, catching any pips in your other hand

Take one of the sauce containers from the fridge and reheat the pasta sauce on the hob or in the microwave, until piping hot | Take out half the parsley leaves and roughly chop

Add the sauce to the pasta and mix until the pasta is evenly coated | Squeeze over the some lemon juice, catching any pips | Stir in the chopped parsley leaves and mix everything together

Serve the pasta on plates with salad greens and the griddled asparagus

Repeat the following day