Some like it hot

3 October 2022

Hobs and ovens cost a lot to run so using them less is an instant win, but not everything can be cooked in a microwave and we want to eat food that’s tasty and interesting don’t we? Making one pot dishes that taste brilliant when hot and equally delicious when cold is the way to go, so we’ve had a dish specially created for you by Instagram chef Elliott Begley (eat_with elbert). It’s a pasta dish with a lemon and fennel pesto dressing. Elliot says pesto is a great pasta dressing to have hot and cold as it stays fresh and won’t congeal like other pasta sauces and you can get all the ingredients from your local supermarket. Here’s the recipe if you want to get creative today:

Ingredients

400g pasta

1 fennel bulb

60 g of fresh basil

2 TBSP of pine nuts

1 lemon

3 garlic gloves

2 courgettes

150ml extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp fennel seeds (optional)

1 heaped tbsp parmesan (swap out for Nutritional yeast if vegan)

10-12 baby tomatoes

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°
2. Dice courgettes into small chunks, roughly chop the fennel bulb and smash the garlic cloves to break the skin (but do not remove the skin).
3. Place the courgetti chunks, fennel and garlic in a roasting tray then drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Keep the courgette and fennel apart in the tray, as the fennel is going into the pesto. Roast for 20 minutes.
4. Remove the basil leaves from the stems and grind in a pestle and mortar (or a food processor). Using sea salt here will help break them down. Then add pine nuts and fennel seeds and continue to grind.
5. Boil a large pan of water, and add salt to the water until it tastes a bit like seawater. Cook the pasta.
6. After 20 minutes in the oven (or once softened) remove the fennel and garlic from the tray and place the courgette back in the oven for another 10 minutes.
7. Remove the skin from the garlic, add it to the pesto along with the fennel and continue to grind this up. Add the juice of one lemon, olive oil and nutritional yeast, season to taste and your pesto is done!
8. Once the pasta is ready, reserve a mug of the pasta water, then drain the pasta. Add around 3/4 of the pesto (save the rest for tomorrow) and the courgette to the pasta and combine. You may need to add a little pasta water depending on the consistency you want. Top with pine nuts and voila!
9. Next day just add some chopped-up baby tomatoes, the leftover pesto and a drizzle of olive oil to the pasta and you’re good to go with your second meal!