Penne with artichokes and parmesan
For two
275g dried penne (or any other shaped pasta)
350g marinated, bottled baby artichokes
2 tbsps olive oil
a handful of coarsely chopped parsley
4 tbsps grated Parmesan cheese
I love those rather expensive baby artichokes that you can buy by the pound in Italian delis. They make a sensational partner for pasta with lots of parsley and Parmesan.
Cook the pasta as usual. It will take about 10 minutes in deep boiling salted water. Drain the artichokes of their vegetable oil and cut them in half (most of them are in half anyway, so they will be in quarters now). Drain the pasta, toss it with the artichokes, olive oil, parsley and Parmesan.
Pasta with roast garlic, mushrooms and cream
For two
8 fat cloves of garlic
75g butter
100ml olive oil
100g small mushrooms, halved or quartered
225 ml double cream
225g dried pappardelle
roughly chopped parsley
A pleasing dish of mellow flavours. Compare the rich flavours of this method with the brighter cleaner tastes of the Chinese version, also with mushrooms and garlic.
Drop the garlic cloves into a small saucepan of boiling water. Blanch them for four minutes, by which time they will be paler in colour and will have softened a little. Melt 25g of the butter in a shallow pan with half of the olive oil. Fish out thegarlic with a draining spoon, pop the cloves out of their skins (it's easier than before they are cooked) and drop them into the oil and butter. Cover. Cook over a very low heat for 15 minutes, in which time they should turn golden and sweet.
After 15 minutes' cooking add the remaining butter and the olive oil to the pan. Stir in the mushrooms and replace the lid. Cook over a low heat for 7-10 minutes. Meanwhile, simmer the cream over a low heat to reduce it slightly. Use the pan in which you blanched the garlic, but throw out the water first. Put the pasta into a large pan of boiling salted water and cook till tender.
When the pasta is ready, after 9-10 minutes boiling, drain and return it to the pan. Pour in the cream and the mushrooms and garlic. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper, add the parsley and stir gently. Serve hot.
Fettuccine with cream and parmesan
For two
275g fettuccine
225ml double cream
50g butter
75g freshly-grated Parmesan cheese
freshly ground black pepper
Cook the fettuccine in boiling salted water until it is al dente. Pour the cream into a saucepan, add the butter and bring slowly to the boil. Reduce the heat and leave the sauce to simmer gently for two minutes. Stir in the Parmesan and several grinds of black pepper. Pour over the fettuccine and toss the pasta in the sauce.
Fusilli with olives, anchovies and capers
For two
50g stoned black olives
4 anchovy fillets, rinsed and dried
1 tbs capers, rinsed
3 tbsps olive oil
2 sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, finely sliced
450g fresh or 100g dried pasta
freshly grated Parmesan cheese
A storecupboard supper with a Mediterranean flavour that is as good cold as it is hot. If you don't have any corkscrew-shaped fusilli, then quill-like penne or almost any tubular pasta is just as good.
Chop the olives and anchovies, but not to a purée, then add the capers. Warm the oil in a shallow pan and stir in all the ingredients except the pasta and Parmesan. Let the ingredients warm through gently, but do not let them bubble (if the capers become too hot they tend to overpower everything else). Cook the pasta in boiling salted water until it is al dente. Drain and tip into a warm serving bowl. Pour over the heated olive sauce. Stir gently and serve. Pass the Parmesan.
Wholewheat pasta with sausages, mustard and caramelised onions
For two
175g fresh spicy sausage
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, cut into thin rings
225g wholewheat pasta
150ml chicken or vegetable stock
2 tbsps chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp grain mustard
salt
freshly ground black pepper
A marvellously robust dish to come home to on a winter's night. Any wholewheat or any other for that matter) pasta is fine, though fettuccine is my favourite. It is very good with a glass of beer.
Slice the sausage into thick rounds. Fry it in the oil for four minutes, then add the onion rings. Continue cooking, covered, until the onions start to soften, adding a drop more oil if necessary. Bring a large pan of water to the boil, add a little salt and throw in the pasta. Cook until it is firm but tender.
After about 15-20 minutes, when the onions are golden and have caramelised and are ever-so-slightly burnt at the edges, add the stock. Bring to the boil, scrape up the good things stuck to the pan with a wooden spatula and stir in the chopped parsley and the grain mustard. Add the cooked, drained pasta and season with salt and pepper. Serve hot.
Tim Atkin's wine list
With the fettucine: 2000 Errázuriz Chardonnay
(£5.99, or 2 for £10, Bottoms Up, Thresher, Victoria Wine).
A mealy, ripe, well balanced Chilean Chardonnay whose style is closer to Burgundy than Australia. Fresh acidity gives it the definition of a well-toned six pack.
With the penne: 2000 Safeway Matra Mountain Sauvignon Blanc
(£3.99, Safeway)
Grassy and fresh with crunchy acidity and classic Sauvignon Blanc aromas of hedgerows and freshly-mown spring lawns. A good match with artichokes.
With the pasta and roast garlic: 1999 Chianti Chiantigiane
(£4.49, Spar)
A youthful, approachable, medium weight Chianti that has enough cherry and plum fruit to cope with the mushrooms and enough acidity to slice through the cream.
With the pasta with sausages: 2000 Inycon Aglianico, Rosso di Sicilia
(£4.99, Sainsbury's)
Unusual grape, unusual wine. This is a rich, tobacco, liquorice and raspberry-scented rosso from Sicily with tannins that are more powerful than you expect on the finish.
With the fusilli: 2000 Lugana Villa Flora, Zenato
(£5.49, Waitrose)
A lively, unoaked Northern Italian white with summer in its veins. Apple and pear are the dominant flavours on this broad, full-flavoured Trebianno bianco.
