This rather ordinary looking pasta dish is actually PACKED with robust flavour and palate pleasing texture. I included celery, both the stalks and the soft, light green internal leaves because I find this readily available veg is a perfect partner to the other commonplace ingredients of chicken and tomato. 

The recipe for this dish was inspired by a conversation I had last Friday with my 91 year old grandfather Djeda Milan, who lives in Perth. He is an excellent home cook who still prepares from scratch, a variety of dishes for his lunch every day. Vegetables are always included and if a roasted meat is on the menu it is accompanied by a hand whisked gravy. My grandfather endeavours to cover all of the food groups which I suppose is why he remains in good health for a gentleman of his age. He had made for lunch that day a spaghetti dish featuring a chunky sauce made from chicken and pork mince, onion, garlic and home cooked chicken stock (there is always a stash of chicken stock in his deep freeze which is why my grandfather’s food tastes fantastic!). 

So late this afternoon when the question of, “What’s for dinner?” was raised I thought I too would do something similar to my grandfather’s pasta dish. I had eight plump chicken drumsticks, that I had not roasted yesterday for our family picnic, remaining in the meat drawer of my fridge. They needed to be incorporated today in a meal of some kind, so I stripped off all the meat and turned it into mince in a matter of minutes using my Magimix food processor. Unlike chicken breast, drumsticks do not dry out and they have a richer flavour, making them an excellent and affordable base for mince. With the addition of other key ingredients I managed to turn this humble piece of poultry into this evening’s delicious dinner.   

This is a simple, rustic, but very satisfying Sunday night meal that requires minimal preparation but results in maximum smiles around the dinner table. A big bowl of baby broccolini, blanched in boiling water and dressed with lemon juice, olive oil, a bit of salt and pepper rounded off the menu by providing a big boost of vitamin charged greens. In fact my Chicken, Celery and Tomato Pasta would be ideal as a mid-week meal option. The sauce alone can be prepared ahead of time and kept refrigerated for two days or frozen for up to a month. 

Chicken, Celery and Tomato Pasta Sauce to serve 8 people

Ingredients
8 plump chicken drumsticks from a size 18 chicken
1 medium brown onion
4 cloves garlic
3 long sticks of celery plus a handful of the inner leaves
1 tin crushed tomatoes (I use the Polpa Mutti brand)
4 tablespoons tomato passata
1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs
1 teaspoon sea salt
good grind of black pepper
350 ml chicken stock
1/2 tablespoon vinno cotto or balsamic vinegar

Put the onion, garlic and celery into your food processor and blitz until finely diced. Add this to a large pot in which the olive oil and butter have been heated over a low/medium setting. Sauté for 10 minutes. 

Meanwhile, using a sharp knife and taking great care, slice all of the meat off each drumstick and put this into your food processor. Blitz until it resembles mince. Add this to your sautéed veggies and brown evenly over a medium/high heat setting. This will take about 10 minutes. 

Add the herbs, salt and pepper and stir through. As soon as the chicken has turned opaque in colour, add the tinned tomatoes, passata, chicken stock and either vinno cotto or balsamic. Increase the heat to high, bring to the boil BRIEFLY, then immediately reduce the heat to the lowest setting. Simmer for 45 minutes, checking and stirring the mixture halfway through.  

Once the sauce is ready, you can fold it through cooked pasta of your choice. I used a combination of fusilli and penne pasta (750 grams in total) which was plenty for my family. Alternatively, you can cool the sauce to room temperature by plunging the pot into a sink filled with cold water. Then pour into a clean  container with a lid and either store in the coldest part of your fridge for 2 days or freeze.