Photo: Jo Sidey
Jess Hawkins (@recipeswith_jess) has 413k followers on Instagram (136k on TikTok) so perhaps not surprisingly, when she posted this baked feta pasta online, she says, “it went astronomically viral”. Jess admits: “I’m sceptical of viral recipes, but this one was worth all the hype.”
At the age of 29 she has just published her debut cookbook – a riot of colour and deliciousness, with the twist that each indulgent-looking dish is both high in protein and under 600 calories. This is the very opposite of dull diets. “There is no dry chicken and rice, overboiled broccoli, or mounds of dry lettuce in sight. Instead, think double-stacked cheeseburgers, creamy one-pan pasta, chicken tikka masala and even a decadent Biscoff cheesecake.”
Jess, who describes herself as “a massive foodie”, grew up in a big Anglo-Indian family and says: “Watching my incredible nana in the kitchen is one of my fondest memories … But as my love of food and cooking grew … so did my weight. In my house, seconds (or thirds) were the daily norm, and my nan would be downright insulted if you didn’t finish what was on your plate; reasonable portion sizes were never something she quite got the hang of.”
After trying every fad diet going, she began to create her own meal plans and discovered that “you don’t have to sacrifice the food you love to live a healthy life, nor does it need to be complicated”. Her philosophy: “Life is way too short to stop eating the foods you enjoy.”
Words by Jane Ferguson
Photographs by Jo Sidey
Baked chilli, prawn and feta spaghetti. Photo: Jo Sidey
Jess’s chilli, prawn and feta spaghetti
The sauce comes together in one dish, with minimal effort, and the feta creates the most moreish sauce with the tomatoes. A must-try.
Serves 4
Ingredients
400g cherry tomatoes
1 red pepper, deseeded and cut into small chunks
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp dried oregano
200g block of feta
275g frozen raw, peeled jumbo prawns
300g dried spaghetti
Basil, to serve
Lemon wedges, to serve
Salt and ground black pepper
Make this veggie by omitting the prawns and adding some cooked soya pieces to the finished sauce. This will keep for up to three days in the fridge – just add a splash of water when reheating to restore the creaminess.
Method
Preheat your oven to 200C/180C fan.
Add the tomatoes, pepper, olive oil, chilli flakes and oregano to a dish and mix well. Make a space in the centre, add the feta and bake for 25 mins.
Add the prawns and return to the oven for a further 15 mins. Meanwhile, cook your spaghetti in a pan of boiling, salted water, according to packet instructions. Drain, reserving a little of the pasta cooking water.
When the prawns are cooked, use a spoon to mash the feta and tomatoes into a creamy sauce, then add the cooked pasta. Mix well, adding a little of the reserved pasta water to thin the sauce if needed, then serve topped with basil leaves and a good grinding of black pepper, and lemon wedges for squeezing.
Eat Great, Lose Weight by Jess Hawkins is published by Bloomsbury, £20