World Pasta Day: Nigella Lawson’s spaghetti with Marmite

No condiment has divided the world quite like Marmite, but it makes a flavoursome sauce for spaghetti that even your kids will love, says Nigella Lawson

You might hate Marmite but you’ll likely love Lawson’s Marmite spaghetti (Lis Parsons)

Marmite. You either love it or you hate it.

Nigella Lawson loves it. “I know the combination of pasta and Marmite sounds odd to the point of unfeasibility, but wait a moment,” she writes on her blog.

She stumbled across a recipe for a “day-after-the-roast pasta dish” in Italian-British food writer Anna Del Conte’s memoirs and, realising Marmite’s potential as a replacement for the umami-ness of a stock cube, has been making a version of it on repeat ever since.

“I haven’t as yet found a child who doesn’t like it,” she says.

The simple and speedy dish requires just four easy-to-find ingredients: spaghetti, butter, parmesan (or vegan equivalent) and Marmite.

Packed with saltiness and savouriness, Lawson’s spaghetti with Marmite makes for a tasty midweek meal and, as an added benefit, its main ingredient is also high in vitamin B.

Nigella Lawson’s spaghetti with Marmite

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

375g spaghetti

50g unsalted butter

1 tsp Marmite Original (8g)

Freshly grated parmesan cheese (to serve)

For vegans, replace the parmesan cheese and butter with a plant-based alternative.

Method:

Cook the spaghetti in plenty of boiling salted water, according to the packet instructions.

When the pasta is almost cooked, melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the Marmite and 1 tablespoon of the pasta water, mixing thoroughly to dissolve.

Reserve ½ cup of pasta water; then drain the pasta and pour the Marmite mixture over the drained spaghetti, adding a little reserved pasta water to amalgamate if required. Serve with plenty of grated parmesan cheese.