Spaghetti with marinara sauce

Spaghetti marinara may sound fancy, but actually, it's super quick, easy to make and one of the healthier pasta dishes you can serve. Best of all, it's delicious!

Serves: 4

Time to make: 25 mins

Ingredients

More weights & measures

1 onion, finely chopped
1–2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon oil
½–1 teaspoon smoked paprika
sprinkling of chilli flakes
400g can chopped tomatoes
1 ½ cups reduced-salt chicken stock
300g wholegrain spaghetti
400g fresh or frozen (thawed) marinara seafood mix
⅓ cup chopped fresh parsley
1 lemon, to season
8 fresh mussels (see tip)
To serve
1 lemon, sliced in wedges
4 cups rocketarugulaX leaves
4 tablespoons balsamic vinaigrette (made with 2 parts balsamic vinegar to 1 part oil)
4 slices crusty bread

Instructions

Stay Awake

1 Cook onion and garlic in oil over a medium heat until softened. Add paprika, chilli flakes, tomatoes, stock and ½ cup water. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 5 minutes.

2 Cook spaghetti in boiling salted water until tender, drain, retaining a little of the cooking water and return to pan.

3 Add seafood mix to tomato sauce and cook for 3 minutes. Add parsley and a squeeze of lemon. Adjust seasoning to taste. Add prepared mussels, cover with a lid and cook for a final 2 minutes. Discard any mussels that remain closed. Adjust seasoning.

4 Place a serving of spaghetti on each plate with the sauce and mussels. Serve with lemon wedges, rocket with dressing and crusty bread.

Variations

For a thicker sauce, mix 2 teaspoons cornflour with a little water to make a paste and then add to the pan after cooking for 3 minutes. Stir until thickened.

Use packaged lemon juice if you don’t have fresh lemons.

Make it gluten free: Use gluten-free spaghetti and bread and check smoked paprika and chicken stock are gluten free. If thickening, check cornflour is gluten free.

HFG tip

To prepare mussels, scrub shells under cold running water. Remove any beards from shells. Now they are ready to cook.

Nutrition Info (per serve)

Calories 547 cal

Kilojoules 2290 kJ

Protein 29 g

Total fat 13 g

Saturated fat 2 g

Carbohydrates 75 g

Sugar 9 g

Dietary fibre 11 g

Sodium 860 mg

Calcium 290 mg

Iron 9.5 mg

Note: This nutrition analysis is a guide only. Nutrition composition will vary depending on the exact ingredients used. See our guides on your optimal daily nutrition intake, and supermarket shopping.