A while a go I brought Hubby, Jamie’s 30 minute Meals, the recipes are lovely, but do not take 30 minutes, even when you are as good at cooking as my Hubby is, so when Oliver brought him Jamie’s 15 Minute Meals for Christmas, we were prepared for them to take longer.

Even with Rosie acting as sous chef and the pans heated, kettle on, it took far longer than 15 minutes, but the recipes are yummy, full of flavour and use only the best ingredients.

One huge plus has been, that before Christmas, our trusty food processor died, much loved, much used and much missed, we hadn’t got round to replacing it, but anyone that knows Jamie’s recipes, knows, that you always require a trusty food processor, so let me please introduce you to the new member of the Gelsomina kitchen family….

Hubby and I have wanted one for such a long time, but thought it silly to buy one when our old food processor did the job just as well, and as anyone who owns one knows, they are a thing of beauty but they are not cheap. My old food processor had served me for over 10 years, but I absolutely love the new shiny beast that sits on the side in my kitchen and I hope we have many happy years together.

Anyway, back to the recipe, everyone knows that 90% of the time, we eat Italian food in our house, always on the hunt for new recipes, this crab bolognese appealed no end. Luca, Hubby & I all love crab and it didn’t disappoint. The only downside, the lingering smell of fish in my kitchen!

So here’s to many happy years of food processing with my beautiful new machine and I hope you enjoy this gorgeous recipe.

Buon appetito

1/2 to 1 fresh red chilli
1 carrot
2 spring onions
2 cloves of garlic
1 heaped teaspoon fennel seeds
2 anchovy fillets
1/2 a bunch of fresh basil
2 bulbs of fennel
olive oil
320g dried spaghetti
1 lemon
300g crabmeat (brown & white)
white wine
700g passata

Halve the chill, carrot and trim the  spring onions and put them into the food processor with the peeled garlic, fennel seeds, anchovies and basil stalks. Chop of and add the top stalky part of the fennel, reserving the bulbs (and any leafy tops), then blitz everything until finely chopped. The Magimix made very quick and easy work of this, Hubby was very excited! Tip into a casserole pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, stirring often. Meanwhile cook the spaghetti in a large pan of boiling salted water, according to the packet instructions.

Finely grate the lemon zest over the veg. Add the brown crab meat, a splash of white wine and the passata, then stir, cover and leave to simmer.

When your spaghetti has finished cooking, roughly chop the top leafy part of the basil and sprinkle most of it into the sauce with the white crabmeat, then squeeze in the juice of the zested lemon. Loosen the sauce with a little of the starchy cooking water from the spaghetti, then drain the spaghetti into a large serving bowl. Spoon the sauce on top and serve right away, scattered with the reserved basil leaves, mixing at the table, Jamie likes a little theatre at the table! Finish with a drizzle of olive oil. Serve straight away.

Serve with focaccia http://dianastaveley.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/paul-hollywoods-focaccia.html and a crunchy fennel salad http://dianastaveley.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/crunchy-fennel-salad.html .