Spicy Pork and Tomato Pasta
Liven up your pasta repertoire by using pork mince, chilli flakes and Kalamata olives with this quick and easy meal, perfect for mid-week.
Ingredients
Main Ingredients
Method
Heat the olive oil in a saucepan or large frying pan, add the onion and fry for a minute until softened.
Add the Kalamata olives and continue to cook for a further minute to allow the flavours to combine.
Add the minced pork and cook until browned, then add the chilli flakes, passata, chicken stock and red pesto (or tomato puree). Stir everything together, then turn down the heat and simmer for 20-25 minutes.
Season the sauce with a little salt, add the tomatoes and stir through the flat leaf parsley.
Meanwhile, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and add the pasta shells and cook according to packet instructions until al dente. For dry pasta shells usually around 11-12 minutes.
Stir the pasta in to the sauce and cook over a low heat for about 30 seconds. Serve with a little more chopped flat leaf parsley sprinkled over the top.
How to Cook Spicy Pork and Tomato Pasta
Add the onions to a large saucepan or frying pan / skillet and fry for a few minutes until softened.
Stir in the Kalamata olives and cook for a further minute
Cook the pork mince/ground pork over a medium heat, breaking it up with a spoon, for around 5-7 minutes until browned and no pink remains.
Add the passata, red pesto (or tomato paste) and chilli flakes and stir everything together. Season with a little salt
Pour in the chicken stock, give everything a good stir and bring to the boil. Simmer for 20-25 minutes until the sauce has thickened.
After about 15 minutes of your sauce cooking, add the pasta to a pan of salted boiling water* and cook according to packet instruction (11 - 12 minutes for dry pasta)
*this water is actually boiling, I just turned the heat off for a second because the steam was steaming up my camera lens but it should be a rolling boil 🤪
About 5 minutes before the end, add the cherry tomatoes the sauce, this just adds a bit of extra freshness, you can leave them out if you wish.
Once your pasta is cooked, drain and add to the spicy pasta sauce - you can sprinkle in a little flat leaf parsley at this point if using.
Serve your spicy pork and tomato pasta with a little more flat leaf parsley sprinkled over the top
Questions and Substitutions
What other pasta shapes can I use?
I've used shell pasta, but any sturdy shape that can pick up a meat sauce will work fine here, you could try penne, rigatoni or ziti.
How do I pit an olive?
It's easier to buy pre-pitted olives, but if you only have olives with the pit in (that's the big seed) then it's quite straightforward to remove the pit yourself using following method:
- Press down gently on the olive with the side of a chef's knife until it splits.
- Remove the pit through split and discard.
- Halve the olive along the split, which can now be added to the dish.
What can I use instead of Kalamata olives?
Kalamata olives are Greek olives that have a slightly more tangy taste than a normal black olive, but if you don't have any then black olives will also work really well in this dish.
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