Perfect summer pasta

Pappardelle with butter beans, serrano ham and green chillies

The beans and pasta might appear to be starch overkill, yet the contrast of textures is really the point here.

Serves 2

dried butter beans - 250g

pickled green chillies - 4

stoned green olives - 16

pappardelle - 250g

parsley - a small bunch

serrano ham - 100g

for the dressing:

olive oil

sherry vinegar - 1 tbs

Soak the beans overnight in cold water. The next day, drain them and boil in deep, unsalted water until tender. (We are talking a good 40 minutes, but you must check them regularly.) Salt the beans only towards the end of cooking otherwise they will toughen. Drain and slip them from their skins, tossing the peeled beans with a little olive oil as you go. Remove the leaves from the parsley and chop them. Roughly chop the chillies. Halve the olives.

Make the dressing by whisking three tablespoons of the oil with the vinegar. Then add some salt and pepper. It will not thicken.

Cook the pasta in deep boiling salted water. Drain and toss with the dressing, the beans, chillies, olives and the parsley. Tear up the ham and fold into the pasta. Serve warm.

Lunch in under 12 minutes

Peas with fettuccine, basil and pumpkin seeds

Pumpkin seeds are not essential here, sunflower seeds or pine nuts are just as good. I have a jar of pumpkin seeds in the kitchen that I constantly pick at, and they often get added to food that will benefit from something nutty and crunchy, such as pasta. Use mint instead of the basil if you like, and use another shaped pasta if you have no fettuccine. Be resourceful.

For 2 as a main dish

pumpkin seeds - 50g

fresh fettuccine for two

shelled peas, fresh or frozen - 225g

olive oil - 4 tbs

garlic - 1 clove, crushed

fresh basil leaves - 8-10, torn to shreds

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Scatter the pumpkin seeds on a baking sheet and cook under a preheated hot grill until lightly browned and fragrant. Cook the pasta, uncovered, in boiling salted water, until tender.

Put the peas and oil in a small pan, add the garlic and the basil, season with a little salt and pepper, and cook over a gentle heat for 10 minutes, or seven if using frozen. Drain the pasta and toss in a large bowl with the hot peas and their olive oil, and the toasted pumpkin seeds.

Penne with artichokes and parmesan

I love those rather expensive baby artichokes that you can buy loose by weight in most good Italian delicatessens. They make a sensational partner for pasta with lots of parsley and parmesan cheese.

Serves 2

dried penne (or any other pasta shapes) - 275g

marinated, bottled baby artichokes - 350g

olive oil - 2 tbs

coarsely chopped parsley - a handful

grated parmesan cheese - 4 tbs

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 cooked pasta, toss it with the artichokes, olive oil, parsley and parmesan, and serve.