Ripe Tomato and Basil Pasta

Ingredients

• Parmesan Cheese

  Cheese

  Add to eggs for omelettes, grate onto soups or salads.

  • Parmesan often goes rock hard or becomes horribly sweaty. Ideally, all cheese should be stored in a cool, airy place at a temperature of 46-50F/8-10C. However, most of us put it straight into the fridge. This is fine providing the cheese is kept loosely wrapped in its own airtight container so it isn’t tainted by other foods.
  • Store it in the salad drawer, which is not quite as cold as the rest of the fridge and use a micro plane for grating.
• Ground Black peppercorns

  Black peppercorns

  Best used as a condiment.

  They can be lightly crushed and used to spice up a creamy sauce or to coat fillet steak or chicken breasts.

  • Although it might seem odd, grinding black pepper over a bowl of strawberries enhances the flavour of the fruit.
  • Pepper that is pre-ground is not fresh tasting and often has other ingredients mixed in.
  • Choose the type of mill that suits you, and if you want coarser pepper you can loosen the screw on the top of the mill or crush the seeds in a pestle and mortar
• Handful of basil Herbs

  Herbs

  Ideal for seasoning pastas.

  To keep cut parsley or coriander, put in a hole free polythene bag with a couple of tablespoons of cold water, give the bag a good shake and keep in the salad drawer of the fridge. Herbs should keep for a week like this.

• Virgin Olive oil

  Olive oil

  Usually the darker green the oil, the richer the flavour.

  • Extra virgin olive oil is good for drizzling on salads and should never be heated as this destroys the fine properties
  • Lighter olive oil is good for adding to bread, or to flavour a salad or marinade for chicken, meat, fish or vegetables. Lighter olive oil can be gently heated and added to marinades and baking.
• Pasta

  Pasta

  Available in various shapes and sizes.

  • Short tubular pasta (rigatoni, penne, macaroni) is best used in baked dishes with vegetables, cheese and meat.
  • Smooth long pasta (spaghetti, linguine) is best with sauces like Bolognese, tomato and clams as these keep the pasta slippery and separate.
  • Cup-shaped pasta (conchiglie, orichette) is designed to hold sauces with larger ingredients such as mushrooms, artichokes and tomatoes.
  • Cut pasta (tagliatelle, fettuccine, farfalle) is best eaten with rich sauce made with cream, eggs or meat.
  • Twisted pasta (fusilli, eliche, fettuccines, farfalle) the curly character of these pastas means that they will trap thin sauces such as pesto, garlic, and olive oil flavoured with chilli.
  • Tiny pasta shapes (alphabet letters, fillini, vermicelli) cook quickly and are ideal for adding to soups and casseroles.
  • Ravioli is stuffed pasta and can vary from cheese, vegetables and meat.
  • Lasagne sheets and cannelloni are good pastas used in a baked layered meat or vegetables dishes.