The Tractor, A Bus with Chorizo & Parmesan No Fuss Fusilli

Lil man-child:  I’m staarving!

Lil divagirl:  are we there yet?

?Lil man-child: are we there yet?

Lil divagirl:  my bellies rumbling

And on and so on and on it went…….

Stuck in the car.

Homeward bound

after a trip to the park.

Although it ‘s usually only a five-minute drive away, we got stuck behind an old tractor who was stuck behind a geriatric bus with a 1988 registration plate.  Driving at 20 kph on a typical Irish secondary rural road / lane /dirt track with the school bus pausing every now and again to drop off kids. When we finally got home half an hour later, I needed no fuss fast food to put an end to the broken record torture my ears had endured.  The poor things were ravenous after fresh air and exercise, as was I (page flicking can be repetitively tiring you know).

Chorizo is one of my favourite ingredients, jazzing up any dish from a pizza to a salad.  It’s a handy one to have on standby in the fridge or pantry and the shelf life is usually good. This is the second offering for the Irish Foodies Cookalong January theme – Budget Food/Leftovers.  A really economical dish and a yummy hunger buster. I served it with a green leafy salad to make it more nutritious and used Tesco Finest Chorizo which I didn’t expect much from but was surprisingly good.

(serves 2 adult & 2 kids)

110g chorizo or more if you like

1 small onion finely diced

1 clove garlic finely chopped

50g parmesan

1 tsp djon mustard

2 tbsp tomato puree

1 tsp sugar

cracked black pepper

salt

200 – 250ml of water from cooked fusilli

350g fusilli pasta

Olive oil for frying and drizzling

Put the pasta on to cook in a large pot of boiling water.  When it comes to the boil add a good pinch of salt.  It takes longer for water to come to the boil if you salt it before boiling.

Finely dice the onion and slice the chorizo into roughly 2cm sizes.

Fry the chorizo for 1 minute over a medium heat. Add the onion and fry for another 2 minutes.

Add everything else except pasta water and parmesan.

Stir and simmer while the pasta cooks.

Before draining the pasta remove 200ml of the water and add to the sauce.  The starchy water helps to thicken.

Stir, add freshly grated parmesan and if the sauce is still too thick add some more pasta water.

Drain the pasta and add to the sauce tossing well.

Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Drizzle with olive oil and top with parmesan shavings and oregano.