Pasta with Walnut Sauce

Autumn has arrived so I thought I'd mark the occasion with this wonderful pasta dish. Walnut sauce (salsa di noci) originates from Liguria and is traditionally prepared in autumn when the nuts are harvested. It has a delicate taste but is rich and filling at the same time, perfect for colder evenings, with the added benefit of being full of healthy omega-3.

Every village and town has a slightly different way of making the sauce but all recipes include bread and milk. I've used the sauce with penne here but you can use any pasta you want really; in Liguria, it's usually served with filled pasta. 

As it's a great way of using up leftover bread and milk, I'm sending this over to Foodie Quine, this month's host of No Waste Food Challenge, overseen by Elizabeth at Elizabeth's Kitchen.

                         

I'm also entering it into Credit Crunch Munch, co-hosted by Camilla At Fab Food 4 All and Helen over at Fuss Free Flavours. 

RECIPE

30g bread, without crusts (you can use white, wholemeal, or whatever you happen to have)

160ml whole milk

160g shelled walnuts

1 clove garlic

20g pine nuts

30g parmesan, grated

4g marjoram

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Start by roughly tearing up the bread and place in a bowl with the milk, leaving it to soak.

Put all the other ingredients (walnuts, garlic, pine nuts, parmesan, marjoram and oil) in a food processor and whizz together until smooth. 

Remove the bread from the milk, squeezing out any excess and add to the food processor. Pulse to mix everything together. 

Add salt to taste and thin it down with the leftover milk if you think it's too thick.

Serve with any kind of cooked pasta. It's also nice spread on toasted bread.

Penne with Asparagus and Ricotta

A surfeit of meat whilst on holiday in Austria last week and some sunny weather have left me longing for light, summery dishes. Asparagus fits the bill perfectly and is still in season so I decided to try to come up with a pasta dish, rather than the usual asparagus risotto that is frequently seen at this time of year.

There are basically only three ingredients - asparagus, ricotta and a shallot and yet it worked beautifully as a pasta sauce. The delicate flavour of the asparagus wasn't overpowered by the ricotta and the shallot just added a gentle kick. Add a sprinkling of parsley and a generous grating of parmesan and you've got a wonderfully quick, fresh, delicious supper. 

I'm sending this over to Jaqueline's (from Tinned Tomatoes) monthly challenge, Pasta Please, hosted this month by Lucy over at BakingQueen74. 

RECIPE
200g green asparagus
100g ricotta
1 shallot
handful of fresh parsley
4 tablespoons olive oil

300-400g pasta, any shape you want

Wash the asparagus, then cut off the tips and set them aside. Boil the spears in lightly salted water for about 5-7 minutes - they need to be much softer than when eating them on their own as they are going to be blended with the ricotta. 

Place the asparagus spears in a food processor with some salt, pepper, the ricotta and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Blend until smooth.

Blanch the asparagus tips for about 1 minute in boiling water (I usually just throw them into the water I've got boiling for the pasta), then fish them out and leave to drain. 

Cook the pasta in boiling salted water.

In the meantime, finely chop the shallot and cook gently in a frying pan with the rest of the olive oil until softened.

Add the asparagus and ricotta sauce, the blanched asparagus tips and mix everything gently together, leaving on the heat for a few minutes to warm through. Chop the parsley roughly and add it to the sauce. If it looks too thick, add some of the pasta water to thin it slightly. 

When the pasta is al dente, drain and mix everything together well.

Serve with freshly grated parmesan.

Penne with Speck and Leeks

Another very busy period at work has left me little time for blogging but a recent lull has meant I've been able to catch up on some of my favourite blogs and so have found out about all those doing the fantastic Live Below the Line challenge. This asks people from all over the world to join the Global Poverty Project initiative in living on £1 a day for five consecutive days. Vanesther over at Bangers and Mash has successfully completed the challenge and her posts about it certainly make for interesting reading. She has decided to extend the frugal food theme to this month's Family Foodies challenge (which she runs jointly with Louisa from Eat Your Veg), entitled 'Cheap and Cheerful' so I'm sending this pasta dish over as it fits the bill perfectly. It's simple, delicious and has universal appeal which makes it ideal for a family meal. The leeks give a wonderful flavour and although the speck (an Italian smoked prosciutto, sometimes sold in the UK as Black Forest ham) is quite expensive, you only need a couple of slices to ensure that the wonderful smoky flavour of the ham permeates the pasta.

RECIPE- serves 3-4

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 leeks

1 clove garlic

1 tablespoon crème fraîche or sour cream
4 slices Italian speck/Black Forest ham, finely sliced
400g penne or other short pasta

Start by preparing the leeks.  As they can be very dirty, I usually slice them in half length ways and then chop them finely. Put them in a colander and wash thoroughly under running water. Drain well. 

Heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the leeks and cook gently until softened, being careful not to colour them as leeks can turn very bitter if they start to brown. Add the crushed garlic and continue cooking for a minute or two.

Stir through the crème fraîche. Add salt and black pepper to taste.

In the meantime, cook the pasta in a large pan of salted water, as per packet instructions. Near the end of the cooking, take a ladleful of the pasta cooking water and add to the leeks. When the pasta is al dente, drain well and mix with the leeks.  Add the finely sliced speck (I usually just scissor it in) and mix briefly. If you're not watching the purse strings, serve the pasta with lots of freshly grated parmesan. 

Spring Vegetable Pasta Gratin

I often have odd vegetables lurking in the bottom of my fridge. By odd, I don't mean peculiar or rudely shaped, I just mean that I end up with a variety of different vegetables, but only small amounts of each. In an effort to reduce my food waste, I try to create delicious meals that use up these forlorn perishables.

This gratin worked really well and not only allowed me to use up all the vegetables in my fridge, but I even managed to finish some double cream that had been getting perilously near its use-by date as well. It's a lovely dish for spring, with the fresh, multi-coloured vegetables providing a soft contrast to the golden topping.

I'm sending this over to Chris at Cooking Around the World, who is hosting the No Waste Food Challenge this month on behalf of Elizabeth, of Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary.



RECIPE - serves 4 

320g pasta (any 'short' pasta will do, I've used penne but shells would be good too)
1 carrot
1 courgette
1 leek
100g lettuce
100g cabbage
1 tablespoon vegetable stock
20g butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
150 ml double cream
100 ml milk
140g fresh Parmesan, grated
handful of chives, chopped

Wash all the vegetables thoroughly. Dice the carrot and courgette, slice the leek, lettuce and cabbage. Heat the butter and olive oil in a frying pan and cook all the vegetables for a few minutes until beginning to soften. Add the vegetable stock, and salt and pepper to taste and continue cooking for about 10 minutes, adding the chopped chives at the end.

Heat the cream and milk in a pan for a few minutes to thicken slightly, then add 100g of the grated Parmesan, salt and pepper. 

In the meantime, cook the pasta in lots of boiling salted water until just al dente. Drain it well and mix with the vegetables. In a greased ovenproof dish, alternate layers of the pasta and vegetables with the creamy sauce and the rest of the Parmesan, finishing with a generous sprinkling of the cheese. 

Put in a pre-heated hot oven (180°C) for 10 mins, then increase the heat to 240°C for a further 10 mins. When it's ready it should be golden, crispy and bubbling. 

Tagliatelle with Leeks and Sausage - Tagliatelle con Porri e Salsiccia

This is one of those great Italian dishes that manages to transform a few humble ingredients into a deliciously satisfying dinner. Apart from the pasta, there are just two main elements, sausages and leeks. Add some garlic and seasoning and a glug or two of olive oil and that's it basically. It's simple, delicious and has universal appeal which makes it perfect for a family meal. It's also pleasingly frugal - one regular sized pack of sausages, along with a few leeks, makes enough pasta for four generous adult servings.

I'm pleased to be able to enter this in Camilla (Fab Food 4 All) and Helen's (Fuss Free Flavours) Credit Crunch Munch challenge, hosted this month by Angela at My Golden Pear.



As this recipe nicely used up my glut of leeks, (grown about 10 miles from my house) I'm also sending it over to Fiona of London Unattached who is hosting the No Waste Food Challenge this month on behalf of Elizabeth, of Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary.



Leeks are at their best at this time of year so I'm sending this over to Ren for her Simple and in Season challenge.



RECIPE

2 tablespoons olive oil
3-4 leeks
1 clove garlic
375g good quality pork chipolata sausages
half a glass white wine
400g tagliatelle or pappardelle

Start by preparing the leeks and sausages. As leeks can be very dirty, I usually slice them in half length ways and then chop them finely. Put them in a colander and wash thoroughly under running water. Drain well. 

For the sausages, remove the skins, break off small amounts of sausage mixture and form into small balls. 

Heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the leeks and cook gently until softened, being careful not to colour them as leeks can turn very bitter if they start to brown. Add the crushed garlic and continue cooking for a minute or two.

Remove the leeks to a plate and add the sausage meatballs to the pan. You don't need to add any extra oil at this point, there will be enough left over from the leeks. Cook for a few minutes over a medium heat until the meatballs are lightly browned all over. Add the leeks to the sausage meatballs in the pan and pour over the wine. Stir everything together and check the seasoning. I usually add a lot of freshly ground pepper as I think it goes really well with leeks.  Continue cooking for about 5 minutes or so until most of the wine has evaporated and the sausages are cooked through.

In the meantime, cook the pasta in a large pan of salted water, as per packet instructions. Near the end of the cooking, take a ladleful of the pasta cooking water and add to the leeks and sausage mixture if you think it looks slightly dry. When the pasta is al dente, drain well and mix with the leeks and sausages. Serve with lots of freshly grated parmesan. 

Spaghetti with Tomatoes and Swordfish

For those interested in food and drink, autumn is probably the best time to visit Italy. From Trentino in the north to Sicily in the south, the entire country is filled with festivals and feasting, from September to November. These 'sagre', celebrating fantastic local produce, are usually held over a weekend and the whole town joins in the party atmosphere. The streets are filled with stalls and tables, with everyone cooking and selling typical dishes made with whatever they happen to be celebrating. There's always a glass or two of good wine from the area to accompany the food as well - I mean, you may be eating on the hoof, off paper plates but certain dining rules must be upheld!

If you are visiting Italy in the autumn, it's definitely worth finding out what's going on in the local area as I guarantee you'll be able to find something. There are sagre dedicated to almost everything: some are based around single ingredients such as chestnuts, olive oil, honey, wild boar; others focus on a typical dish like risotto, gnocchi or pesto. One of my favourite is held in September in Asti, Piedmont and it celebrates a variety of local produce so you can try delicious tagliatelle with the famous Alba white truffle, beef braised in Barolo, risotto with porcini... It's a wonderful way of trying excellent food without paying restaurant prices. Another great sagra celebrates the end of the wine harvest in Bardolino on Lake Garda. You pay a few euros at the beginning to buy a glass which you hang around your neck in a specially made box. You then use this glass to sample the different wines from various producers who thoughtfully also prepare some local dishes to accompany the wine. It's all great fun but obviously much better if you can make sure you don't have to drive at the end of the day.

This pasta dish is a recreation of something I tried in the Sagra del Pesce Spada (swordfish), held at the end of August in Gallipoli in Puglia. It's fresh and flavourful from the tomatoes and herbs, with chunks of meaty, succulent swordfish. It's a perfect dish for late summer but I thought I'd sneak it in before the weather gets too cold, using the last of the tomatoes from my parents' greenhouse.

This post is making its way over to the ever popular challenge, Cooking with Herbs. The challenge is created and hosted by Karen from the wonderful Lavender and Lovage.

I'm also sending it to Javelin Warrior's wonderful weekly challenge which encourages everyone to cook from scratch, Made with Love Mondays.

RECIPE
350g spaghetti

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

300g swordfish

1 garlic clove

half a glass dry white wine

250g cherry tomatoes, roughly chopped

a bunch of parsley, chopped

a teaspoon dried thyme

a pinch of dried chilli flakes

salt and freshly ground pepper

Remove any skin from the swordfish with a sharp knife and cut into chunky strips, about 2cm x 1cm. Lightly squash the garlic clove, making sure it stays intact and heat with the olive oil in a large frying pan. When it just starts to colour, discard the garlic and add the swordfish. Fry quickly for 2 minutes, then add the wine and let it evaporate for a minute or so. Add the cherry tomatoes and some salt and pepper and cook together for a further 2-3 minutes. Finally, add the parsley, thyme and chilli flakes.

In the meantime, cook the pasta in salted water according to instructions.

When the pasta is al dente, drain quickly and mix all together with the swordfish sauce.

Spaghetti ai Frutti di Mare - Seafood Spaghetti

Pasta and seafood is one of the great combinations. A particular favourite has to be spaghetti with clams and/or mussels and a few cherry tomatoes. The drawback is that it takes time to clean those pesky molluscs what with removing their little beards, checking they're all ok, eliminating any residual sand... Frankly, it's not really how I want to spend my evenings after getting back from work. 

This then is what I turn to on those occasions when I'm completely out of time and inspiration, yet in need of real food with flavour. We call it a ragu di pesce but that isn't really accurate and makes it sound much grander than it really is - simply mixed seafood, chopped quite finely and sauteed with fresh tomatoes, a little garlic and white wine. I keep bags of the seafood mix (mussels, squid and prawns, all ready prepared) in the freezer, so that I can make this at short notice, after having picked up the fresh tomatoes and parsley on my way home. 

It goes without saying that parmesan is never served with any kind of fish. GL and I do however grind over vicious amounts of black pepper just before eating. 

This post is making its way over to one of my favourite challenges, Herbs on Saturday, created by Karen from the wonderful Lavender and Lovage and hosted this month by Anneli from Délicieux.

RECIPE - serves 3-4

350g spaghetti

350g ready prepared mixed seafood

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 tablespoon dry white wine

100g cherry tomatoes
a pinch of dried chilli flakes
extra virgin olive oil

a good handful of fresh parsley, roughly chopped

Cook the pasta according to instructions, making sure you've salted the water well - it really does make all the difference. 

While the pasta is cooking, finely chop the seafood and slice the tomatoes into quarters. Heat a few glugs of olive oil in a large frying pan and add the crushed garlic. After just a few seconds add the seafood, tomatoes, chilli and white wine. Cook for about 2 minutes over a medium heat - it really doesn't need any longer than this because the seafood is already cooked, it just needs to heat through. Add most of the parsley (keep a little back to sprinkle over just before serving), season with salt and pepper and give it all a good stir. 

When the pasta is al dente, drain well and mix with the seafood sauce. To serve, drizzle over a little olive oil, top with the rest of the parsley and some ground black pepper. 

Roasted Pepper and Ricotta Pasta

A staple of Italian cuisine, peppers are incredibly versatile. When roasted  they become sweet, soft and smoky but I love them raw too, so crunchy and refreshing, although you rarely find them in their uncooked state in Italy as they're considered highly indigestible. As an aside, the Italian word for peppers is peperoni which I thought worth mentioning here in case of any confusion when ordering a pizza in Italy; pizza con peperoni is a pizza with peppers, if you want US style 'Pepperoni Pizza', then you should  ask for pizza con salame piccante. Just thought it might be useful...

In this pasta recipe, the peppers are roasted and peeled before being blended with ricotta to form a thick creamy sauce which is then added to some softened onion, fresh tomatoes and chilli. The tomatoes provide a nice acidity which works well with the smooth, rich sauce and chilli gives a little kick.

This month's One Ingredient Challenge, started by Laura of How to Cook Good Food and Nazima from Franglais Kitchen, is Cheese so I'm sending this over to Nazima who is the host for April. I absolutely love cheese so can't wait to see the round up at the end of the month!



As the theme is Chilli, I'm also sending this to Shaheen for Allotment 2 Kitchen who is April's host of Pasta Please, a wonderful challenge started by Jac from Tinned Tomatoes.




RECIPE
2 red peppers
100g ricotta
half a fresh chilli, finely chopped
half an onion
100g cherry tomatoes
4-5 tablespoons olive oil

300-400g pasta, any shape you want

Start by roasting the peppers. Preheat the oven to its maximum temperature and put the peppers in whole, on a greased baking tray. Leave for about 25 mins, turning occasionally. The skins should be blackened and starting to peel away. Remove from the oven and put them in a plastic bag to cool before peeling them and eliminating the seeds and core.

Place the peppers in a food processor with some salt, the ricotta and 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Blend until smooth, adding more olive oil if necessary and adjust the seasoning.

Cook the pasta in a boiling salted water.

In the meantime, finely chop the onion and cook gently in a frying pan in a  little olive oil until softened. Add the chilli and cook for a further few minutes. Halve the cherry tomatoes and add them to the onion and chilli, tossing them briefly together for a minute or so.

Add the pepper and ricotta sauce, mix everything gently together and leave on the heat for a few minutes to warm through. If it's all looking a bit thick, add some of the pasta water to thin it slightly. When the pasta is al dente, drain and mix everything together well.

Serve with some freshly grated parmesan.

Pasta with swordfish, aubergine and mint

We have pasta most days. I know that may horrify the carb-avoiders among you but frankly, nothing can match it for taste, speed and ease of preparation and I get withdrawal symptoms if I go for more than a few days without. The best pasta dishes are almost always the simplest - think of pesto, made with basil, pine nuts and parmesan or a fresh tomato sauce, sauteed quickly with maybe a finely chopped shallot or two and served with nothing more than a few basil leaves and a drizzle of olive oil. 

One of my favourite combinations for pasta is fish with fresh herbs and vegetables and this swordfish recipe is one of the finest. It originates in Sicily where the use of mint in savoury dishes is quite widespread and it's a custom that I love. This dish is arguably best made in late summer when aubergines and tomatoes are at their peak but I tend to think of it as something I can (and indeed do) make all year round. It's a beautifully balanced dish of flavour and colour. Just please make sure that you use fresh mint - don't even contemplate using the dried stuff here.

I'm sending this to one of my favourite challenges, Herbs on Saturday, created and hosted by Karen from the consistently wonderful Lavender and Lovage although I apologise for not having foraged for the mint!

I'm also sending this over to Javelin Warrior's weekly challenge, Made with Love Mondays which encourages us all to cook from scratch.

RECIPE

350g penne or other short pasta

1 large aubergine 

olive oil

300g swordfish

1 garlic clove

160g cherry tomatoes, rouhgly chopped

a bunch of mint, chopped

salt and freshly ground pepper

Start by dicing the aubergines into 1cm cubes. Some people salt them before cooking to draw out excess moisture and bitterness but I don't bother - I've tried doing it and really I don't think that it makes a difference.

Pour some olive oil into a large frying pan, about 1-2 cm,  and when it's hot, fry the aubergine cubes until golden brown. Remove using a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel to absorb the excess oil. You may need to do this in two batches. Season with salt and add half of the chopped mint.

Discard the oil and give the pan a quick wipe. Remove any skin from the swordfish with a sharp knife and cut into cubes, roughly the same size as the aubergine. Lightly squash the garlic clove, making sure it stays intact and heat with a tablespoon of olive oil in the frying pan. When it just starts to colour, discard the garlic and add the swordfish. Fry quickly for 2 minutes, then add the cherry tomatoes and cook together for a further 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

In the meantime, cook the pasta in salted water according to instructions.

When the pasta is al dente, drain quickly and mix all together with the swordfish, tomatoes, aubergine cubes and the rest of the mint.

Pasta with peppers

I'm almost embarrassed to call this a recipe as there are basically only two ingredients, pasta and peppers, and the method is laughably simple, requiring no more than a bit of chopping and some stirring. From this, you may think that it's not really worth it - I mean how tasty can it be if there's so little involvement in the making of it? However, that would be a great mistake because this dish is utterly delicious. Cooked slowly, the peppers begin to caramelise in the olive oil, becoming soft and sweet, completely transformed from their raw, indigestible state. The juice they give off combines with the oil to turn into a sauce which then coats the pasta. All in all, I think it's close to pasta perfection. If you like peppers, I urge you to try this.

As this month's theme is peppers, I'm very pleased to be able to join in with the Pasta Please challenge, started by Jac over at the amazing Tinned Tomatoes and hosted this month by Lisa from We don't eat anything with a face. I'm really looking forward to seeing what other people have come up with this month.



RECIPE - serves 3-4

• 350g long pasta - bucatini (thick spaghetti-like pasta with a hole running through it) is ideal here but failing that you can use linguine (as I have for the photo) or even spaghetti
• 6 peppers (if you can get different colours, it makes for a more visually pleasing dish; red, yellow and orange are better for flavour but you can use a small green one too if you must but remember that they don't match up to the others for taste)
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• lots of fresh parmesan to serve

Wash the peppers and deseed. Roughly slice them up. In a large frying pan (with a lid), pour in enough olive oil to just coat the bottom. Put over a medium heat and add the peppers, turning them in the oil. Cover and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently.

After 15 minutes, remove the lid and continue cooking uncovered for a further 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. The peppers are ready when they are soft and just beginning to brown at the edges. At this stage, season to taste.

Cook the pasta according to instructions, making sure you've salted the water well - it really does make all the difference. Near the end of the cooking, take a ladleful of the pasta cooking water and add to the peppers. When the pasta is al dente, drain well and mix with the peppers. Drizzle over a little more olive oil if you think it needs it and serve with lots of freshly grated parmesan.

Tomato, basil and mozzarella pasta

Red, white and green, the Italian flag (and coincidentally, the colours of Y Ddraig Goch, the Welsh Dragon) on a plate. Yes, it's another dish based on my favourite Italian trinity of mozzarella, tomato and basil (for other recipes featuring these flavours have a look at Insalata Caprese and Baked pasta with mozzarella and tomatoes). I make no apology for this, I happen to think that the combination is simply perfect for the warmer summer weather.

The recipe below is for a standard, hot pasta dish. However, Italians often prepare this as a cold pasta salad in the hot summer months. If you want to try it like that, cook the pasta until just al dente, then drain it and refresh in cold water. Then simply toss the other ingredients with the pasta, without cooking them, omitting the onion and dressing with a generous glug of extra virgin olive oil.

As there's still time (just!), I'm sending this over to Laura (this month's host) at www.howtocookgoodfood.co.uk and Nazima of  Working London Mummy for the July One Ingredient challenge - Tomatoes.

RECIPE - serves 3-4

350g pasta (any 'short' kind, I used fusilli)
7-8 large tomatoes
125g ball mozzarella
half a small onion or 1 shallot
extra virgin olive oil
handful fresh basil

Chop the onion or shallot very finely. In a frying pan, heat enough olive oil to cover the base and add the onion/shallot. Cook gently until very soft, about 10-15 minutes. 

While the onion is sweating, prepare the tomatoes. First, you have to peel them, not a particularly pleasant job but worth doing for this dish. The easiest way is to score a small cross in the skin of the base of the tomatoes. Place in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Leave for a minute, then place the tomatoes in cold water and peel off the skin. After peeling, roughly chop.

Chop the mozzarella into small dice.

In the meantime, cook the pasta in lots of boiling salted water. When the pasta is almost ready, add the tomatoes to the softened onion and cook for a minute or two. Season with salt and pepper. 

When the pasta is al dente, remove from the heat, drain well and toss with the tomatoes and onions and the fresh basil, roughly torn. Just before serving, scatter the diced mozzarella over the pasta and gently mix it in, drizzling over a little more olive oil.

NB: Don't be tempted to mix the mozzarella in any earlier because it starts to melt as soon as it hits the heat and instead of it being evenly distributed through the pasta, you end up with a mass of melted mozzarella that won't mix in! I speak from experience...

Pasta with prawns and courgettes

Another light, easy, meat-free pasta dish. I realise that this has been a bit of a theme in recent posts so I feel I should explain; a few weeks ago, GL and I had a holiday in Austria. It was all wonderful - stunning scenery, good weather, friendly locals, wooden chalets with flower-filled balconies and delicious food.



Hintersteinersee, nr Scheffau



View from Hohe Salve, nr Söll



 However, as you might expect, the cuisine is rather meat based. Now, as two confirmed carnivores, GL and I loved it. Nevertheless, we deemed it best to ease up on it slightly once we got home.

RECIPE - serves 3-4

350g 'short' pasta, eg. penne

3 small or 2 large courgettes

1 clove garlic, crushed

300g king prawns, deveined and cut in half if very large

half a glass dry white wine

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

pinch of chilli flakes (optional)

fresh parsley, chopped (optional)

Cut the courgettes into smallish dice (I slice the courgettes lengthways into quarters, then cut them at approx 1 cm intervals). Heat the oil in a large frying pan and add the garlic. Cook the garlic for a minute or two being careful not to let it brown.  Add the courgettes and cook them over a gentle heat for about 15 minutes, until they're soft and golden. Add the prawns and chilli if using. Throw in the wine, let it bubble up for a minute or so and season with salt and lots of pepper. 

In the meantime, cook the pasta in lots of boiling salted water. When it's al dente, remove from the heat, drain well and toss with the courgette/prawn mix. Drizzle over a little e.v. olive oil and serve with the chopped parsley if using.

Pasta with tomatoes and mushrooms

This is an easy mid-week pasta, good for vegetarians or if you're trying to cut down on meat.

You can use any short pasta shape. My favourite is mezze penne (literally half penne); they're the same thickness as regular penne but about half the length. I just love them because they seem to work with all kinds of sauces and they make perfect little mouthfuls. The only problem is that we cannot find them in the UK (or at least not round here) so we come back from trips to Italy with our luggage and pockets stuffed with packets of De Cecco mezze penne, along with huge hunks of parmesan, coffee and slabs of prosciutto.

RECIPE

Serves 3-4

350g pasta
250g chestnut mushrooms, roughly chopped
half an onion or one shallot, very finely chopped
400g tin chopped tomatoes
a pinch of chilli flakes, optional
extra virgin olive oil

Cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling, salted water.

While the pasta is cooking, heat some olive oil in a large frying pan and fry the mushrooms over a high heat, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms have lost their liquid and become golden brown.

At the same time, in a separate frying pan, heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and cook the onion gently until soft and translucent. Add the tomatoes and chilli if using. Season to taste and continue cooking for about 5 mins.

Add the mushrooms to the tomato sauce and mix thoroughly.

When the pasta is al dente, drain well and tip into the tomato and mushroom sauce. Mix everything together and serve with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a grating of fresh parmesan.

Baked pasta with mozzarella, tomatoes and basil

I've been making this baked pasta dish regularly for years although I do tweak the recipe from time to time. This is my current favourite but there are different versions of this eaten all over central and southern Italy. It's simple Italian cooking at its best, using few ingredients and no fancy techniques to produce a delicious, crowd-pleasing meal. It can be prepared in advance so it's extremely useful for feeding large groups of people; indeed, in Italy it often features as part of a celebratory meal.

I usually use penne but you can use whatever shape of short pasta you like.

RECIPE - serves 4

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
600g passata or chopped tinned tomatoes
2 balls mozzarella, roughly chopped
bunch of fresh basil
freshly grated parmesan
400g penne

Cook the pasta in the usual way, in a large pan of salted, boiling water.

While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a saucepan and add the passata. Add salt and pepper and simmer gently for a few minutes; you only really want the sauce to heat through, it shouldn't be reduced at all. Remove from the heat and stir in the fresh basil leaves, roughly torn.

When the pasta is 'al dente', drain it and mix with the tomato sauce, the chopped mozzarella and a good handful of grated parmesan.

Toss it all thoroughly and put in an ovenproof dish. Cover with another generous grating of fresh parmesan.

At this stage, you can either cook it straight away in a pre-heated hot oven (200°C) for about  20 mins or you can keep it in the fridge for up to a day and cook it just before serving. In the latter case, it will need about 30 mins in the oven. When it's ready it should be golden, crispy and bubbling.

Tagliatelle with porcini mushrooms

This is one of my all time favourite pasta dishes. I love porcini mushrooms but unfortunately it's very difficult to buy them fresh here, even in the autumn, when they're in season. Happily, good quality dried porcini make an excellent substitute.

Some Italians add cream to the sauce but I think it masks the flavour of the mushrooms so I prefer to keep it simple. I've used tagliatelle here but pappardelle and fettuccine both work well too.


RECIPE - Serves 2


200g tagliatelle
40-50g dried porcini
1 shallot, finely chopped
half a glass dry white wine
1 tablespoon passata
a handful fresh parsley, chopped
extra virgin olive oil
a knob of butter
salt and pepper
fresh parmesan to serve


Put the dried mushrooms to soften in a jug of warm water for about half an hour.


Take the mushrooms out of the water (but make sure you don't throw it away as you will need it later on) and rinse them well, making sure there are no tiny particles of grit or soil left lurking in any crevasses. If they're very big, you can roughly chop them but don't make them too small. Filter the mushroom water by pouring it through a sieve lined with a sheet of kitchen towel.


Heat a tablespoon of olive oil and the knob of butter in a pan and add the finely chopped shallot. Cook over a gentle heat until soft. Add the mushrooms and carry on cooking for a few minutes.


Throw in the wine and let it bubble and absorb. Then add some of the mushroom water and let it absorb. Stir in the passata and cook for a few more minutes, adding more mushroom water if it seems to be getting too dry. Stir in the parsley and a good grinding of black pepper. Add salt to taste.


Cook the tagliatelle while you're preparing the sauce. When the pasta is ready, add a ladleful of the cooking water to the mushrooms. Drain the pasta and add it to the mushroom sauce, mixing everything together gently. Serve with a generous grating of fresh parmesan.