Spaghetti with zucchini

It's been a while but that's because most of the time I'm having something that is already on here or simply not worth publishing. This is a very simple dish; just zucchini, onion, garlic and some cheese (pecorino or parmesan). Enjoy!

Pasta with broad beans

Broad beans are one of the most delicious and easy to grow June greens. You need a lot though because the edible, or rather the tasty, bit is rather small. It is covered with first one thick pod (from which you can make stock if you don't like throwing things away) and then a chewy peel that you should really take off; it's not hard just pop it off between your fingers like when peeling an almond.

The beans have a delicate flavour so don't use strong spices. I used onion, green squash (aka zucchini, courgette) and oregano from the garden.

Almost any short pasta will do but try to pick some with a larger cavity, like gnocchetti sardi, where the beans can hide rather than the one I used.

Gnocchi with cabbage and a side of beetroot

The gnocchi are made from potato, flour and salt. You need to mash the potatoes thoroughly until very smooth. They are quite heavy so you don't need a lot.

I cooked the cabbage with onion, garlic and juniper berries and then added the cooked gnocchi. I'm no expert on cabbage so I don't know what this one is called but it was white but not as pale as white cabbage. I wasn't even sure it was edible at the time but I'm still alive so it must have been.

Incredibly good, try it!

Spaghetti with egg

This is one of the quickest dishes you could ever cook. Nevertheless it is extremely tasty. Just cook the spaghetti until nearly done and then quickly fry, stirring vigorously, with an egg in sauce pan. Add some fresh herbs if you have any.

Cannelloni

Cannello means tube in Italian; consequently these are large tubes. Fill them with anything you want (in this case spinach and cheese), cover with Béchamel sauce - or perhaps a tomato one if the filling is more meaty -and cook in the oven. How to make a tube from a pasta sheet is left to the reader to figure out. Very simple and equally delicious!

Pasta with pork & tomato sauce

Pork belly, tomatoes and lots of herbs: parsley, sage and oregano because that is what is available right now in the garden. Very quick and simple and the herbs (when I say a lot I mean A LOT) make the sauce rich and tasty.

Pasta with asparagus

Homemade gnocchetti with asparagus sauce and their tips. The gnocchetti were made using the standard gnocchi attachment. The sauce is very simple but the taste is incredible if you use good fresh asparagus. The exact recipe must not be written down but instructions will be given face to face on request.

Tagliatelle al Ragu

The ragu was made from minced beef and pork, onion, celery, carrots, parsnip (for that local touch), wine and beef stock. Everything except the wine, and salt, pepper and oil obviously, was home made or bought from local organic producers; as in having organic production I mean.

Tagliatelle is very simple to make yourself if you have a pasta machine. If you don't have one it takes a little bit longer but it's still worth the effort. The one thing you have to be careful with is to have everything ready before cooking the pasta as it cooks in less than a minute and needs to be mixed with the sauce immediately. Here's a little something to listen to while rolling the pasta dough.

Spaghetti alla carbonara

Some use cream but I prefer it without; just pork belly, wine, egg yolk, pecorino, parmesan and parsley.

Pasta frutti di mare

I'm allergic to fish (but not to shellfish for some reason) so I use only prawns, but you can add all kinds of stuff of course.

The prawns mustn't cook in the sauce or they will get soft and mushy. Fry them separately and add them at the end. The sauce is just tomatoes and vegetables, e.g. onions, carrots, celery or whatever you prefer.

Pasta with broccoli

Broccoli, garlic and chillies. Ridiculously good, can't think of anything else to say.

Spaghetti with cauliflower

Criminally good, possibly the best pasta dish of them all. For once you will get some more detailed instructions, but don't get used to it.

Reduce a can of tomatoes with a little salt and sugar. Meanwhile boil the pasta water. While you are waiting watch your collection of Roberto Baggio commercials.

Soften the cauliflower flowers in the water, only for a minute or two, don't cook them through. Transfer the flowers to the tomato sauce and then cook the spaghetti with the inevitable cauliflower residues until 30-40 seconds before done, add the pasta to the tomato sauce and cook until you know what.

Eat hot whilst thanking god or evolution for cauliflower.

Pasta with pork ragu

Simple and good. Some care is needed when selecting the pasta; it needs to have a large surface area for the sauce to attach to. Tagliatelle or some short pasta like in the picture is good; spaghetti (the shape of which minimizes the surface the area) is less ideal.

The ragu is made from minced pork, onion, celeriac, carrots and tomatoes; all organically produced of course. For flavour add for instance parsley and sage from your garden.

When the pasta is almost ready add it to the sauce and cook for a few seconds. Eat immediately whilst practising pick-up phrases.