Pasta with Fried Eggs

Here's a quick and delicious pasta dish to make when you have little time, and even less food in the house. All you need is a box of pasta, four eggs, olive oil and garlic.  Parmesan is a delicious, but optional, addition.

 Ingredients

• Salt
• ½ pound pasta
• 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or lard
• 2 large cloves garlic, lightly smashed and peeled
• 4 eggs
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Freshly grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese, optional 

Bring a pot of salted water to the boil. Start the sauce in the next step, and start cooking the pasta when the water boils.

Combine garlic and 4 tablespoons of the oil in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Cook the garlic, pressing it into the oil occasionally to release its flavor; it should barely color on both sides. Remove the garlic, and add the remaining oil.

Fry the eggs gently in the oil, until the whites are just about set and the yolks still quite runny. Drain the pasta, and toss with the eggs and oil, breaking up the whites as you do. (The eggs will finish cooking in the heat of the pasta.) Season to taste, and serve immediately, with cheese if you like.

 Featured in: The Minimalist; Pasta From The Pantry by Mark Bittman.

Roast Chicken & Pesto

This is a fantastic and simple way to eat a roast chicken – whether it's hot or cold.
Serves 6.

1 Browder's Birds roasting chicken         
½ bulb garlic, plus an extra ¼ clove
2 small lemons
a few sprigs fresh thyme
extra virgin olive oil
3 bunches fresh basil, stalks removed
1 handful pine nuts, lightly toasted
1/4 cup of Parmesan, freshly grated

Preheat your oven or grill to 400ºF, then stuff your chicken with the ½ garlic bulb, one of the lemons and the thyme. Rub the outside with lots of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, then rub with olive oil and roast for 1½ hours. To see if it's properly cooked, pierce a thigh with the tip of a knife and check that the juices run clear. If they don't, continue cooking and check again.

Pound the remaining garlic with a pinch of salt in a pestle and mortar. Scrape the paste into a food processor and whiz with the basil and pine nuts. Pour the mix into a bowl and stir in a few good lugs of olive oil. Add the Parmesan and season with salt, pepper and the juice of the other lemon. If the pesto looks stiff, moisten it with olive oil.

Serve the chicken in portions – hot or cold – on a big plate with the pesto in a bowl next to it. Better still, tear off bits of chicken and dip in a bowl of pesto before eating – fantastic! Great with arugula and roasted lemon halves, if you like.

Recipe by Chef Jamie Oliver