Spaghetti with crab and rocket

I only started cooking this relatively recently when fresh picked crab meat started appearing in my local supermarket but it has undoubtedly become one of my favourite speedy recipes. It's light enough to eat in the summer, especially with the rocket leaves which act like an integrated salad, but is also lovely in the winter when you're in need of some hearty fare. The brown crab meat forms an instant sauce so additional ingredients like cream aren't required, and it's so quick the thing that takes longest to cook is the pasta.

There seem to be lots of variants of this recipe but this is my version (probably initially inspired by Nigella or someone else off the telly though). For enough for two you'll need:

100g picked crab meat (white and brown)
2 or 3 spring onions (finely sliced)
1 fat clove of garlic (finely chopped)
1 medium red chilli (finely chopped; remove seeds if you don't want too much heat)
Large handful of rocket
Plenty of olive oil
Enough spaghetti for two (about 200g)
Plenty of seasoning

Bring a pan of water to the boil and cook the spaghetti. At the same time gently sweat the spring onions in a generous amount of olive oil until they've softened without colouring. Add the garlic and chilli, stir for a couple of minutes and then add the crab meat and cook until it's heated through. Remove from the heat and then stir through the cooked pasta. Season to taste and add an extra splash of olive oil if you want. Either add the rocket directly to the crab and pasta and mix or serve on top (and eat immediately).

It has also been known for all of the above to be combined with enough pasta for one and eaten solo. But definitely not by me, no definitely not.......

Vegan pesto

Pesto with spaghetti is a very reliable quick supper, but it only takes a couple of minutes longer to make fresh pesto rather than use some ready-made stuff from a jar (especially if you have a Kenwood mini-chopper or something similar). It also has the advantage of being packed full of fresh flavours.
I am not a vegan but a lack of appropriate cheese meant that this pesto ended up being dairy-free. Do add some pecorino, grana padano or parmesan if you have any, but it's not actually essential as the pine nuts do a good job of contributing richness to the pesto. So to make enough for one combine the following:

Small bunch of basil (about 5 or 6 long stalks)
Two fat cloves garlic
Small handful pine nuts (toast first in a dry pan if you want)
Enough olive oil to make a loose paste
Salt and pepper to taste

Whizz up the above in a food processor or by hand, and when it's done stir through some hot spaghetti or other pasta. Warning- the heat from the pasta will 'cook' out the raw garlic a bit but it's still a pretty powerful flavour. I love garlic but you might want to limit consumption of this dish to when you are planning on staying in rather than heading out on a first date, job interview, etc, etc.