Fusilli estivi

Pasta with fresh spinach, tomatoes and pine kernels

Really quick and so tasty. All the ingredients are chopped up and thrown into a bowl while the pasta cooks. It has all the tastes of summer and can be made at the last minute. I would use fusilli as each forkful picks up tomatoes, spinach and all the lovely juices together.

Ingredients

for 4 people

·       Baby leaf spinach 300g

·       Sundried tomatoes, 150g chopped

·       Pomodorino or cherry tomatoes 100g

·       Olive oil - a generous amount 

·       Pine kernels - 50g

·       Pasta such as fusilli or penne (100g per person)

Put enough water on to boil to cook the pasta and add some salt to taste. When the water boils, add the fusilli and stir.  Cook for the time stated on the packet minus 1 minute (It should be slightly al dente).

Roughly chop up the spinach and put it into a large serving bowl. Cut up the sundried tomatoes and put these into the serving bowl, allowing some of the oil from the tomatoes to drizzle in to encourage the flavour.  Add chopped pieces of pomodorino tomatoes for added freshness. Quantities here are very loose as it really depends on your taste, but be abundant rather than hold back.

Dribble extra virgin olive oil onto the spinach and tomatoes and this will eventually dress the pasta. Let it sit while the pasta is cooking to mingle the flavours a bit.

Place the pine kernels onto a sheet of foil and toast them under a grill, or put them in a pan without oil and brown them.  Beware they will burn very quickly.

Add the hot kernels to the spinach and tomato mixture, this again helps bring out the flavour.

When the pasta is ready, drain and add to the other ingredients in the serving bowl.  Mix thoroughly.

try some of the other recipes on our blog …