On the surface, making your own pasta from scratch might seem like a bit of an ask but that’s not always the case, as this relatively straightforward recipe shows.

In under an hour you can whisk together this super tasty Mediterranean delight. It’s not too expensive either, and will fit pretty much any budget.

Method

• Blitz the spinach and flour in a food processor until a ball of dough forms. Check the dough – it shouldn’t be sticky, you want a playdough consistency. Add a little more flour, if needed.
• To make the pici, tear off 2cm balls of dough and roll them out into long thin sausage shapes – like fine green beans – on a clean surface.
• Cook the pici straight away, or leave them to dry out for a few hours, or even overnight. Entirely up to you.
• Stick a large pan of salted water on to boil. Put a large frying pan on a medium heat with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Peel, finely slice and add the garlic, along with the chilli flakes.
• Finely slice and add the courgettes, then halve and add the tomatoes. Cook it all for 5 minutes, then stir in the pine nuts and add a ladle of boiling water. Leave on the lowest heat while you cook the pasta.
• Add the pici to your pan of boiling salted water. If it’s freshly rolled it will only need 5 minutes or so, but if you’ve let it dry give it 8 to 10 minutes, checking on it to make sure you get lovely al dente pasta.
• Drain, reserving a mugful of cooking water, then toss through the veg.
• Reserving the baby basil leaves, finely slice the bigger ones and stir into the pan with most of the finely grated Parmesan, loosening with a little reserved water, if needed.
• Divide between your warm plates and serve with a few drips of extra virgin olive oil, with the remaining Parmesan and the baby basil leaves sprinkled over.

Ingredients

• 200g baby spinach
• 300g Tipo 00 or plain flour , plus extra for dusting
• olive oil
• 4 cloves of garlic
• ½ teaspoon dried red chilli flakes
• 200g baby courgettes
• 320g ripe cherry tomatoes, on the vine
• 50g pine nuts
• ½ a bunch of fresh basil, (15g)
• 50g Parmesan cheese
• extra virgin olive oil

Serves 4 / Cooking time 50 mins approx