By Camille Rose Garcia, from her 2010 exhibition The Hydra of Babylon

This pasta makes me do my happy dance.

The key to making it kick ass is being patient enough to let the sauce reduce into a thick, rich, tomatoey wonderfulness, so don’t be in a hurry!

Spinach-Tomato Coated Fusilli

What you need:

1 cup fusilli (or any tight spiral pasta)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small brown onion, chopped finely
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
2-3 tbsp tomato paste
a few handsful of spinach, stems removed and chopped roughly
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp raw sugar
1/2 tsp sea salt
fresh black pepper to taste

What to do:

Spinach Tomato Sauce:

In a frying pan, heat olive oil briefly over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add onion, cook 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, salt and basil. Mix well.

Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until sauce is very thick. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from heat. Add spinach, cover pan for 2 minutes, and stir to combine. Set aside for 5-10 minutes, to cool a little before blending. Season to taste with fresh black pepper.

Blend sauce until spinach is chopped very finely. Add to a medium-large saucepan and set aside.

Assemble everything:

Cook pasta your preferred way and set aside.

Warm the Tomato Spinach Sauce over medium-low heat for 5 minutes. Add the cooked pasta, drizzle on a little more olive oil and mix gently. Heat a further couple of minutes, stirring frequently, until good n hot.

Serves 1 hungry person, 2 snackers.