Spaghetti with chorizo, breadcrumbs, pine nuts and basil

This is another of those dishes I whipped up one evening when there wasn’t much in the house. Chorizo, as I said earlier is one of those brilliant store cupboard ingredients that adds spice and flavour to everything. When you heat it, the delicious smoked paprika oil comes out and coats the pasta beautifully. For texture I added toasted breadcrumbs and pine nuts.

Ingredients

2 oz of Spanish chorizo, roughly chopped

½ cup of breadcrumbs

1 small clove of garlic, thinly sliced

A little olive oil

2 tbsp pine nuts

½ cup of fresh basil, torn

A little parmesan for serving

Method

Put the spaghetti on to cook as normal. In a frying pan, heat a little oil and add the sliced garlic; stir for a few minutes on a medium heat. Now add the chorizo and heat until it starts to crisp up and release oil. In a separate pan, heat some oil until hot and add the breadcrumbs; stir around until the crumbs begin to brown and go crispy. Add the pine nuts and stir again until they go golden. When the spaghetti is cooked, drain and pour the spaghetti into the pan with the chorizo and garlic. Add a small bit more olive oil if it is too dry, then add the breadcrumbs and pine nuts and the fresh basil, toss it well to combine. Serve with some freshly grated Parmesan on top.