20 mins
Not Too Tricky
serves 2
About the recipe
This is one of the simplest, but most underrated dishes out there – tomatoey pasta, fresh basil, spears of seasonal asparagus, and all finished with freshly grated Parmesan – bellissima!
Ingredients
1 clove of garlic
¼ of a bunch of fresh basil
300g fresh tagliatelle
olive oil
1 x 400g tin of quality plum tomatoes
125g asparagus spears
extra virgin olive oil
10g Parmesan cheese
Top Tip
Totalled up, this dish boasts two of your 5-a-day. Thanks to the tomato and asparagus, this dish is packed with vitamin C, which your body needs for pretty much everything!
Method
- Peel and finely slice the garlic, then pick the basil leaves and finely chop the stalks.
- Cook the tagliatelle in a pan of boiling salted water for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente, which means that it should be soft enough to eat, but still have a bit of bite and firmness to it, then drain, reserving some of the pasta water.
- Heat a lug of olive oil in a saucepan over a medium heat, add the garlic and fry for 1 to 2 minutes, or until golden.
- Add the basil stalks and tinned tomatoes, breaking the tomatoes up with the back of a spoon.
- Bring to the boil, season with sea salt and black pepper and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Snap the woody ends off the asparagus and discard, then finely chop the spears.
- Add the asparagus to the tomato sauce, simmer for 1 to 2 minutes, then remove from the heat and season to taste, if needed.
- Finish off the sauce by stirring through the basil leaves. Toss the tagliatelle in the sauce, adding a little cooking water to loosen, if needed.
- Serve with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a good grating of Parmesan. Enjoy!
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