Pork and Leek Pasta

Huzzah! We're back - new term, new recipes. And a new recipe tester too - hopefully G will be joining us. So it's brother against sister.

No pressure.

As this is the start of term you might want to have a get together with some friends and this one-pot dish will easily feed a crowd of 6 or 8, it's simple to make and really tasty. You could halve everything if that's too much or double it up to feed more - if you do that you will need two large pans. I cooked this amount in a standard 5L cast iron casserole with a lid similar to this. If you don't have any friends then this will put you into a pasta coma for at least six meals (it will freeze fine) but please try harder with the friends thing. I have used pork mince but turkey mince is cheaper and I've stated 500g but sometimes it comes in packs of 400g or 450g. Any will do fine. Frozen spinach is perfectly acceptable and cheaper and you can add any bits of veg hanging about - I added a handful of wizened mushrooms that were in the salad drawer in the fridge and half a courgette.

You could also make this veggie by upping the vegetables to an equivalent amount - but I'd recommend using softer veg like courgettes or broccoli rather than carrots.

Instead of double cream and blue cheese you could use a 200g tub of cream cheese - own brand basic is fine.

You will need:

1 medium leek, washed and sliced
500g pork or turkey mince
1 heaped teaspoon of fennel seeds
1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes
6 nuggets of frozen spinach
1 chicken stock cube
500g pasta shapes
Boiling water
100ml double cream
150g blue cheese, crumbled
chopped fresh parsley



Start by boiling the kettle and then heat a splash of oil in your pan over a medium heat and add the sliced leek and any other veg you might be using to the pan. Stir frequently making sure it doesn't brown. When the leek is soft add the fennel seeds and the crushed chillies then add the mince in two halves, stirring and turning the first lot until all the meat has lost any pinkness before adding the second lot. As soon as all the meat is done crumble over the stock cube and tip in all the pasta shapes. Add enough boiling water to almost cover everything, plop in the spinach nuggets, stir everything together and bring up to the boil.

As soon as the pan comes to the boil, turn the heat to low and cover with a lid and simmer for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes the pasta should be just about cooked. Add the double cream and crumbled cheese (or the cream cheese) and stir thoroughly. Turn off the heat, replace the lid and leave to stand for another 10 minutes.

Serve in bowls sprinkled with chopped parsley.

Leftovers should be bagged up and put in the freezer as soon as everything has cooled to room temperature.