Wild garlic pesto
Serves: 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
- 400g spaghetti
- 100g walnuts
- 2 good handfuls of wild garlic, washed, or if you can’t find any, try two
handfuls of rocket and one of baby spinach - Handful of parsley
- 1 garlic clove, peeled
- 100ml olive oil
- 1 slice white bread, torn into pieces
- 100g Parmesan, grated, plus extra to serve
- Squeeze of lemon juice
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Punnet of cherry tomatoes
- 2 handfuls of wild rocket
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- 2tbsp pine nuts
Cook the spaghetti according to pack instructions in a large pan of boiling
salted water.
While the pasta is cooking, heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Place the
walnuts on a baking tray and cook for 6 minutes until crunchy. Leave to
cool.
Put the wild garlic, parsley, garlic clove, olive oil and bread in a food
processor and blend until smooth. Add the walnuts and grated cheese and
blend again.
Taste the pesto, and if you feel it needs sharpening up, add a little lemon
juice and season with salt and pepper.
Once the spaghetti has cooked, drain it in a large colander, then tip it back
into the pan. Halve the cherry tomatoes and add them to the pan, along with
a few spoonfuls of your pesto and the rocket. Mix together well.
Serve with a little grated Parmesan, a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil, and
a scattering of pine nuts.
- FYI Wild garlic grows in wooded areas in the UK in spring – look out for the
small white flowers and a garlicky smell. It has a mild taste, similar
to chives, and works well in Italian dishes.
Nutritional information: 812 calories 51g fat
Five-minute spag bol
Serves: 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
- 1 garlic clove
- 2 minute steaks, 125-150g each
- 2tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 500g packet fresh spaghetti
- 8 roasted tomatoes or a punnet of cherry tomatoes, halved
- Handful of basil leaves
Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Meanwhile, chop the garlic as
finely as you can. Wrap your chopping board in a sheet of cling film – then
you won’t have to scrub it later – and lay the steaks on top. Drizzle them
with olive oil, rub them wi
th
the chopped garlic, and then season with sea salt and pepper.
Put a ridged grill pan over a medium heat to warm up. Add the fresh spaghetti
to the boiling water and cook for three minutes. Meanwhile, lay the steaks
in the grill pan and cook for 1 minute on each side. Remove the steaks from
the pan and slice into 1cm strips.
Drain the cooked pasta well, and tip it back into the pan. Add the steak and
tomatoes. Tear up the basil leaves and add to the pan, along with a little
salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil, then serve immediately.
Nutritional information: 498 calories 12g fat
- Recipes from Simply Good Pasta by Peter Sidwell (Simon & Schuster
Illustrated Books, £14.99)
