Fast Food - Fishy Pasta

There's nothing worse than getting home, feeling exhausted and then reaching for a takeaway menu and filling your already tired body with the wrong kind of energy. Let's face it, convenience tends to beat nutrition when you're feeling battered and bruised from a busy day.

What I love about this recipe is the ease with which you can swap from canned fish to left over chicken or beef or fresh prawns. The bonus...it takes 15minutes start to finish! I've timed it a bunch of times and this includes the kettle boiling! The only thing I'll say is that if you opt for fresh meat, chicken or pork, you'll need to add these to the pan for 3 minutes before the tomatoes and mushrooms unlike the canned meat or fish which just need heating through so they're the last thing before the pasta.

It's such a quick and simple meal that it's easy to overdo it and make this 3-4 times a week! Don't do that though, you'll get bored and then it won't be an attractive meal any longer as you'll be "over it". I promise you'll have at least 4 more fast food recipes in the next 10 days to keep you going if you're a regular "too tired to cook' person.

Serves 2

Fish Sauce

1 small clove garlic, sliced

1 small onion, sliced

1 serrano chilli, sliced

125g cherry tomatoes, halved

4-10 button mushrooms (size dependent), sliced

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp dried parsley

1/2 tsp black pepper

213g can of salmon or tuna or fresh prawns

Pasta

250g spaghetti

1.5 ltrs hot water

1 tsp salt

Optional 30g of cheddar or parmesan to serve

- Get the pasta cooking according to the package instructions less 2mins.

- Whilst the pasta is boiling, using a large frying pan or wok, heat up the oil and add the chopped onion, garlic and chilli and fry quickly on a high heat.

- Add the tomatoes, mushrooms and herbs and reduce the heat and allow the mushrooms to release their water and the onions to get mushy soft.

- Open up your canned fish and drain the liquid then add the fish and black pepper and break up the fish into the sauce, stirring it all together.

- Your pasta should be al dente now. Add 3 tablespoons of the pasta water to the frying pan.

- Drain the rest of the water from the pasta and add the pasta to the fish, stirring it all together until it is completely coated in the sauce.

- Cover with foil and leave to steam cook for 2 minutes.