Spicy chickpea and tomato pasta + asparagus, hazelnuts and mozzarella

Two recipe ideas for a hands-off dinner

Since becoming a parent, I find sitting in silence impossible. I need the soft babble of a podcast in my AirPods to fall asleep – a habit leftover from the hours of night feeds when I needed them to distract me. Walking anywhere without music is weird. If I have a spare 30 minutes – say, the time in the morning before my son wakes up – it’s impossible not to fill the time with chores or work, keeping my hands busy, busy, busy. I can barely stand at the traffic lights without mindlessly scrolling on my phone.

When you have a baby, hypervigilance implants itself into your brain. In those early, blurry days, when we’d get out to meet friends, I found it hard to keep track of what other people were saying, so focused was I on the tiny sleeping bundle in the pram nearby. That always-on alertness has never really dislodged itself enough to let me switch off. I guess there is no ‘off’ switch to the terrifying responsibility of Keeping Someone Alive.

But my boy is older now. The nights are less disrupted and things have settled into a different kind of rhythm – one where I’m not manically Googling ‘why is my baby breathing so fast’ at 3 am or hounding the mums’ WhatsApp group with relentless ‘is this normal’ questions (that being said, I’m here for the potty-training chat that’s going on at the moment).

It might be time to start walking without headphones, falling asleep without a podcast and sitting still for more than 5 minutes to drink my coffee in the morning.

Cooking is where I find myself closest to calming that constant chatter in my brain. The knife feels reassuring in my hand, chopping an onion and letting muscle memory kick in. So here are two recipes that require just the right amount of concentration to cultivate a little bit of calm.

Spicy tomato and chickpea pasta

If your kids don’t like it spicy, you can stir through the chilli paste at the end. Find Calabrian chilli paste at Italian delis, M&S or online.

Serves 3, or 2 adults and 2 kids

1 white onion, peeled and halved
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tin chopped tomatoes
A knob of butter
2 tsp caster sugar
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
270g jarred chickpeas, drained
2 tsp Calabrian chilli paste
300g pasta
Parmesan, to serve (optional)

Add the onion, garlic, chopped tomatoes, butter, sugar, vinegar and a good sprinkling of salt to a large frying pan. Rinse out the tomato tin with water, filling it halfway, and swirl it around before adding to the pan. Bring to a gentle simmer over a medium heat and cook for 20 minutes, until reduced and slightly jammy. Stir in the chickpeas and Calabrian chilli paste and season to taste.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a pan of salted boiling water for 8-10 minutes or until al dente. Drain the pasta into the sauce and toss everything together, then serve with parmesan, if you like.

Asparagus with hazelnuts and mozzarella

Serves 3, or 2 adults and 2 kids
30g hazelnuts
1 large bunch asparagus (approx 180g)
1 tsp butter
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon
2 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 ball buffalo mozzarella
Small handful rocket

Toast the hazelnuts in a dry frying pan over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes, shaking now and again, until the hazelnuts are golden brown and smell nutty. Roughly chop them and set aside.

Cut the woody ends from the asparagus. Add to a frying pan with the butter and just cover with water. Season with salt, bring to the boil, cover and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until tender (the exact time will depend on the size of your asparagus).

Meanwhile, add the olive oil, lemon zest and juice, vinegar and mustard to a shallow platter. Season with salt and pepper, then whisk together. Remove 1 tbsp of the dressing and set aside.

Drain the asparagus and toss in the dressing on the plate along with the rocket. Tear over the mozzarella and drizzle over the reserved dressing. Finish with the hazelnuts and another sprinkle of sea salt.