The forearm of a future Michelin chef?

With apologies to those with a vegetarian sensibility, here is Mr. 9 slaving over a twist on the Italian classic, Chicken Bolognese. When we spoke about cooking this, Mr. 9 looked at me hopefully and gushed "we could open up the raw chicken, pour in the bolognese sauce, sew back together, put in the oven, and wait til it explodes everywhere....".

Since our kitchen already resembles a war-zone, I think we might wait til Mr. 9 gets his Michelin hat and appropriate facilities for this version. In the meantime, we've gone with a Bill Granger adaptation from his Simply Bill book, which is great for cooking with kids. Mr.9's initial scepticism about including a celery stalk (what? something green?) quickly vanished when he was in control of the pan, wooden spoon firmly in hand. And he is a natural talent with a really keen sense of taste.

Kids love fun pasta shapes and the significant change we've made to Bill's excellent recipe (making me feel like we're contributing something here) is using trulli rather than rigatoni. These look like mini UFO's out of an early dodgy Star Trek set. But we trulli loved them!

Trulli and a Chicken Bolognese Sauce (adapted from Bill Granger)
serves 4 very hungry people

2 Tbs olive oil
1 chopped onion
1 finely chopped celery stalk
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper
2 slices prosciutto, chopped
500g minced chicken
375 ml tomato passata
500g trulli (or other fun pasta shapes)
3 Tbs chives (or other fresh herb on hand)
handful grated parmesan cheese

Heat the oil in a pan and add the onion, celery, garlic and the salt and pepper. Cook for about 7 minutes over a moderate heat until golden. Add in the chicken and prosciutto, breaking up any lumps in the mince with a wooden spoon . When the chicken is cooked, add the passata and turn the stove down to a simmer.
Bring a large pot to the boil and add the pasta of your choice, cooking until al dente. Drain and add to the chicken bolognese. Toss through the chives and serve with lots of parmesan.