"Welcome-home" tomato, pepper and pea pasta

Thank goodness the weather in London took a turn for the best this week. Our little family has just arrived back from a holiday in sunny South Africa and being a child born at the height of the African summer, I usually fall into a mild depression as soon as the plane touches down in London amidst thick fog and pouring rain.

There is one thing that excites me almost more than exploring foreign culinary customs (or savouring long-forgotten ones): the thought of my first home-cooked meal after many days on the road. The anticipation starts building long before I join other weary travellers in the slow-moving customs queue at Heathrow. Snaking inch-by-inch past sombre government officials, the inner debate about what exactly we will have, has already been going full swing for hours.

With a near-empty fridge awaiting me, and most grocery stores still (or already) closed, some creative cuisine with store cupboard basics and frozen food is required. In spite of these limitations, my “welcome home” meals have to comply with strict criteria. We’re usually ravenous by the time we unlock our front door, so speed and ease of preparation are essential. But after days of wolfing down 'not-to-be-missed' new delicacies, countless restaurant meals and many, many units of fermented beverages, I also usually crave something easily digestible and highly nutritious. This recipe is one of the few that meets all the requirements...



Ingredients

1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp grated ginger
1 tsp cumin seeds, dry roasted and ground
2 tins chopped tomatoes
pinch of unrefined sugar or to taste
150g red kidney beans or chickpea
freshly ground salt & pepper
2 - 3 Tbsp sun-dried tomato paste
frozen peas
cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil
wholewheat or spelt spaghetti or linguini

Method

1. Sweat the onion and garlic in a little oil.
2. Add the grated ginger, ground cumin, tinned tomatoes and sugar. Let it simmer for a little while at a relatively high temperature, to cook away some of the juices.
3. Add the kidney beans or chickpeas and simmer again for a little while.
4. Take the saucepan off the heat and stir in the sun-dried tomato paste. The paste is readily available in good supermarkets, but I have included a very simple recipe for home-made sun-dried tomato paste below.
5. Next, process the ingredients in a food processor until very smooth (a liquidiser such as the Vita-Mix will give you an even more refined sauce).
6. Season with salt and pepper, and perhaps a little more sugar.
7. Pour hot water over the peas until they are warmed up and add them to the sauce.
8. Serve the sauce with spelt or whole-wheat pasta, a few glugs of good olive oil and shavings of Parmesan cheese.