Jamie's Chicken Pasta with 6 veg ragu

Jamie's Chicken Pasta with 6 veg ragu

 

This is another one from Jamie Oliver's 15 min meals, and again it did take longer than 15 mins but only because to save washing up. instead of using the food processor to finely chop all the vegies I did it by hand- which i'll admit actually did take AGES- it was a weekend though. I'd probably recommend just using the food processor- it will get the vegies finer and it will take less time to wash it up than it did to chop! I was missing a few of the ingredients but it was still yummy!

Time Taken?: About 45 mins- but about 30 mins to finely chop all the vegies by hand (there were a lot!) so it probably is a 15 min meal!

3 year old friendly?: I was hoping so, cause of all the vegies, but I think the fact that I didn't use the food processor meant the vegies were too noticeable so he didn't try it! Next time I'll get those vegies hidden!

INGREDIENTS
1 large leek (I didn't have a leek so I used a brown onion)
1 stick of celery
1 carrot
1 zucchini
3 jarred red peppers
olive oil
3 sprigs of fresh thyme
700g jar of passata
320g dried fusilli pasta (the ones that look like little cork screws)
300g skinless chicken breast fillet (diced to 2 cm chunks)
3 rashers of streaky smoked bacon
1/2 fresh red chilli (I left this out)
4 cloves garlic
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 fresh bay leaves (I couldn't find any so left them out)
1 tbsp pine nuts
balsamic vinegar
Parmesan cheese to serve

METHOD
Pre heat 1 large stove top casserole pan to high heat, a medium frying pan to medium heat, and get a large lidded saucepan of water up to the boil for the pasta.
Finely chop the cleaned leek, trimmed celery, carrot, zuchinni and jarred peppers in a food processor. Add the chopped vegies to the casserole pan with 1 tablespoon oil, the thyme leaves and a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir regularly.
Add the pasta to the boiling water along with a good pinch of salt.
Add the diced chicken into the frying pan with 1 tablespoon of oil and a pinch of salt and pepper, tossing regularly until golden and cooked through.
Stir the passata into the vegetables and simmer.
Finely slice the bacon and chilli (if using) and add to the golden chicken, along with the crushed garlic cloves. Strip in the rosemary leaves, add the bay leaves and pine nuts, and fry for a minute or two until the bacon is golden, then drizzle with balsamic.
Season the sauce with salt and pepper.
Drain the pasta when al-dente, reserving a cupful of the cooking water, then add the pasta to the sauce and toss through, loosening with cooking water if needed.
Scatter the chicken and bacon mix on top of the pasta and serve with a grating of fresh parmesan to taste.