If, like me, you’re always after the perfect midweek meal, you’ve probably grown tired of the often time-consuming, expensive recommendations some sites offer.
No, I don’t want to slow-roast carrots on a Wednesday; nor am I interested in spending more than a fiver on a meal I’ll wolf in seconds in front of Netflix.
Thankfully, our weekday saviour Mary Berry understands that two truths can hold at once; yes, all the above is true, but some of us still crave a fancy-seeming dinner that towers above its repacked competition.
Enter: her cheap, speedy, and delicious crab and courgette spaghetti recipe which gets on the table in the time it takes to boil pasta.
It’s surprisingly cheap
Using:
- £3.75 of Tesco’s crab meat,
- 12p’s worth of spaghetti,
- £1.68 of courgette,
- about 30p of shallots,
- 15p’s worth of lemon, and
- roughly 85p of olive oil, chillis, garlic, and dill
All this together means the dish only costs £6.91 for four people, or just £1.73 each.
“I use a handheld spiralizer for the courgettes, but you can buy them ready-prepared relatively cheaply,” Mary Berry advises on her site.
Having made the three-step recipe myself, I can assure you it tastes much, much pricier than it really is.
What do I need to make it?
For four people, you’ll need 100g of crab meat or canned crab, 200g spaghetti, six tablespoons of olive oil, three courgettes, the juice of half a lemon, a large, finely-sliced banana shallot, and a de-seeded and chopped red chilli.
You’ll also need a small bunch of chopped dill and two crushed garlic cloves.
How do I make it?
Cook the spaghetti according to the packet’s instructions in salted, boiling water.
While this is cooking, fry the shallots in half of the oil for three minutes. Then, add the chilli and garlic for 30 seconds; up the heat and add the courgette, letting it cook for two minutes.
“Be careful not to overcook otherwise it will be watery,” Mary warns.
Drain the pasta and add that, the crab meat, the lemon juice, the dill, and the remaining oil to the pan, mixing well.
Voila ― a delicious, low-fuss meal you can convince people you spent much more time and cash on.