A pasta dish brimming with freshness made distinctive by the particular taste of roasted fennel, this one is easy to pull off, especially with a little earlier preparation. It really is one of those Italian dishes that delivers the flavours of light evenings, perfect for al fresco dining.
This is a very simple but delicious dish. And, you can cook it a couple of different ways; either all in one long stretch, or you can make the various constituent parts in advance and put it all together in practically no time at all.
I took the latter approach on my recent visit to Todmorden in Yorkshire, not sure exactly what time I would arrive.
This recipe serves two to three diners. Get out the abacus to make it work for bigger parties.
Shopping list
the pasta dish
Approx. 400g tagliatelle or bucatini, fresh or dried
500g of good Italian tomato sugo; make it before or prepare it in situ from my recipe
250g fresh green asparagus, sliced roughly into thirds
200g smoked bacon lardons (you can use pancetta or speck lardons. I find speck or smoked bacon works better with the other flavours in this dish)
A small red onion, cubed
3 cloves of garlic, finely crushed/grated/sliced
A standard glass of white wine
A generous dash of olive oil
Approx. 200g fresh fennel
A vegetable stock cube or jelly, diluted in a cup of boiling water
2 tbspns oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
Parmigiana or Grana Padano cheese, to dress at table
for the salad
A selection of seasonal green salad leaves
Half a small raw beetroot, grated or "spiralized"
The zest of one fresh lemon
Extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar or other dressing of choice
Cooking Method
I am going to detail the the way I put together this dish in Yorkshire, having done a fair bit of pre-prep. You can do the whole recipe from start to finish in one stretch and I suspect most of you can figure out how to do that. If you can't ,just email me and I'll walk you through it.
the first bits
Wash the fresh fennel and cut into large vertical pieces (e.g. quarters). Roast in a hot oven in a small amount of olive oil, turning regularly. When the fennel is well cooked. Take out of the oven and allow to cool fully
Add the cooked fennel, a couple of cloves of peeled, raw garlic and a liberal dash of olive oil to a food processor (or use a handheld blender) and blend into a rough paste
You can also do this with larger quantities of fennel and add lemon juice. This stores safely in the fridge for at least two weeks and can be used in a variety of dishes
Cook your classic tomato sugo or, if you live #myauthenticjuliachildslife as I do, simply remove the relevant portion of your pre-cooked frozen sugo from the freezer and defrost fully
the pasta dish
Heat a little olive oil in a large, deep frying pan with a lid on a high heat. When the oil is hot, add the garlic and allow it to gently brown. Add the onions and sweat. When the onions are soft, but not yet brown, add the lardons. Add the dried oregano. Reduce to a medium heat
Cook this mixture, gently stirring. Unless the lardons unusually do not give off liquid, add a little more oil to prevent sticking. After this mixture has cooked for about 5 to 6 mins, add the white wine and cook off the liquid, stirring gently
Pour in the pre-cooked sugo and stir in thoroughly. Ensure the pan is hot enough that the mixture is soon simmering/bubbling
Add the pre-cooked fennel purée and stir in until the contents of the pan are simmering. Cover, reduce the heat and allow to simmer for 10 or so mins. If the sauce starts to thicken too much (remember the sugo is pre-cooked and will reduce quicker than a freshly cooked sauce), add the diluted vegetable stock in small increments to keep the consistency of the sauce right
Add the roughly chopped green asparagus and allow it to cook on the top of the sauce for a few minutes before folding in. Cover and simmer for about 15 mins on a low heat, stirring occasionally and adding more stock as needed to keep the consistency on track
While the sauce is evolving, prepare the salad and cook the pasta. Adjust the timing of cooking the pasta depending on whether you're using dried or fresh. Plate the pasta and sauce and serve. Dress with the cheese of choice
the salad
Nothing could be easier: add all of the leaf ingredients and beetroot shavings to a salad bowl or individual salad bowls
Garnish with the fresh lemon zest and dress at table or just before serving with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar or your dressing of choice
Variations
Easy: for veggie or vegan, simply ignore adding the bacon lardons. I have often made this sauce using chestnut mushrooms, roughly sliced, in lieu of lardons and it's delicious. As is the version where you simply add more green asparagus.
Similarly, you can choose to not dress it with any cheese at all (a tasty option that loses nothing) or, for veggies, opt for one of the many producers of excellent hard cheeses that use thistle or vegetable rennet
Pairings
Because the day was hot and sunny, I felt in the mood to pair this dish with a light red that would not kill the fresh-but-deep summer flavours. So I went for a very affordable but rated Tuscan Chianti Riserva from Lidl. (Todmorden is not big on chichi vintners). It was not a mistake.
Nor was the decision to ease into dinner with a delicious gin and tonic involving Isle of Harris Gin infused with sugar kelp while the sauce was completing it's final simmering magic.
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