Rapid Pasta

On the weekend of the 12th and 13th March I had an exciting and strenuous weekend playing cricket at Denby and an enjoyable walk with the dog in the hills. That said I wanted to cook something that was quick and easy to make which would fill me up after all the energy I had expended.

I decided to make Pappardelle with tomatoes, peas and broad beans. The soundtrack to the preparation of the meal was Elvis Costello's 1978 effort This Year's Model; an album that contains aggressive guitar, carnivalesque organ riffs and fiercely literate lyrics. I hadn't tuned to his frequency for a while and hearing the album helped me recall the summer term of my fresher's year at University when I had first bought the album.

The first task to undertake was to take eight ounces of peas and broad beans and steam them for five minutes. I had to use frozen peas and broad beans as their fresh counterparts were not quite in season at this stage in the  year. Once the peas and broad beans had been steamed I left them to one side.

I then took fifteen ounces of Pappardelle and added them to a pan of boiling water. The best type to use for this recipe is the dried stuff that's available from Sainsburys. I boiled the Pappardelle for fifteen minutes, drained it and left in the colander. In order to enhance the taste I added an ounce of margarine and a quarter of a teaspoon of black pepper and mixed these thoroughly into the pasta.

I next prepared four plum tomatoes by cutting out their hard tops and then slicing them length ways. To help them retain their taste I decided not to peel them. I then took my Le Cresceut dish and poured olive oil into the bottom of it before putting it on a low heat.

The next task was to add the peas and broad beans and warm them through for about a minute. I then added the tomatoes together with a pinch of white pepper and a generous helping of fresh basil. I followed up by adding the Pappardelle and then stirred everything together to avoid it sticking to the bottom of the dish.

In order to help enhance the taste further I added four heaped tablespoons of Mascarpone Cheese to it. The dish was now ready to serve.

The results were completely first rate; the fresh basil and tomato gave the dish a flavour that simply wouldn't have been possible if i'd used dried basil from a jar. The Mascarpone Cheese helped to give a richness that wasn't enough to make things too sickly while the Pappardelle gave plenty of protein.

Oddly enough the meal took exactly thirty-two minutes to prepare; the same length of time as the album I was listening to.

The Mascarpone, tomatoes and basil were what made the dish  top quality.