Spaghetti with rocket, feta and tomatoes

The leftovers have finally ran out in our house.

Last night I made an easy pasta dish from simple ingredients at hand. Spaghetti, feta and tomatoes are staples at our place, the herbs and rocket were from the garden.

This is a recipe that I always used to cook in our first house in Brisbane. This was a popular mid week dish, sometimes shared with friends (in the days when we had impromptu mid-week dinner parties) or sometimes just us. But always with a bottle of red wine and always outside under the stars. I was reminded of those days, long ago, as we ate this outside last night. I was amazed, as I often am, of how one mouthful of a particular food can transport you back in time to a place and a meal that had almost been forgotten.

Spaghetti with rocket, feta and tomatoes

serves 4

• 400 grams spaghetti
• 200 grams feta cheese (crumbled)
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 small chillies (seeded and finely chopped)
• 2 tablespoon basil leaves (torn)
• 1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley (roughly chopped)
• 3 cloves garlic (crushed)
• 3 tomatoes (deseeded and roughly diced)
• 250 grams rocket (roughly chopped)
• salt and pepper

Bring the water to the boil and cook the pasta until al dente. Meanwhile in a bowl mix half of the feta with the remaining ingredients. Toss the tomato mixture through the hot pasta and transfer to a serving bowl. Sprinkle with the remaining feta and serve.