Sweet Red Onion Pasta

This is a Jamie Oliver recipe.  I photocopied it from one of his cookbooks years ago, but I don't know anymore which cookbook it was.

The original recipe is vegetarian, but if you want to include meat some chicken thighs would suit the flavour.  You could add 2 chicken thighs, cut into thin strips.

• Olive oil
• Butter, 2 large knobs
• Onions, 2 white, 3 red (i.e. five in total).
  • Peel and slice
• Garlic, 1 clove
  • Peel and finely slice
• Red chilli, 1
  • Finely slice
• Potatoes, 200g
  • Finely slice
• Cinnamon, 1/2 a stick
• Thyme (fresh), small handful
  • Pick the leaves from it
• Salt
• Black Pepper
• Nutmeg, a grating of
• Fusilli or spaghetti, 450g
• Chicken or vegetable stock, 250ml
• Parmesan, grated, 2-3 handfuls of
• Flat-leaf parsley, a handful of
  • Finely chop

Get a casserole-type pan

Put a drizzle of olive oil and the butter into it.

Slowly fry onions, garlic, chilli and potatoes with the cinnamon stick.  If adding chicken, add the chicken thigh strips now.

Cook slowly for 5 minutes

Then put the lid on and continue cooking for another 5 to 8 minutes until lightly golden (I found I had to cook a lot longer than this).

Add the thyme leaves and season carefully with salt, pepper and a light grating of nutmeg.

Bring a separate pan of salted water to the boil

Add the pasta and cook according to the packet instructions.

Try one of the potatoes to check that it is soft (if not, you've made the slices too thick, but no worries -- just add a little water to the pan and continue cooking until softened).

Drain the pasta, reserving some of the cooking water.

Add the stock to the onions and mush up about half of the potatoes.

Discard the cinnamon stick and season to taste.

Working quickly, toss the pasta with the onions and potatoes, loosening if necessary with a little of the reserved cooking water and add one or two handfuls of Parmesan and the parsley.

When it's all nicely mixed together, serve in warmed bowls.