Neapolitan fusilloni with herbs and lemon

Ingredients

• 200 gr. of Fusilloni Napoletani Cuomo
• 1 clove of garlic
• 2 generous tablespoons of chopped mint
• 4 leaves of chopped sage
• 1 tablespoon chopped rosemary
• 1 tablespoon chopped thyme
• 1 generous sprig of wild fennel
• 50 g butter
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 15 g pine nuts
• 1 organic lemon
• a sprinkling of pecorino cheese
• salt
• black pepper

Preparation

Chop up sage, mint, rosemary and thyme and set aside. In a saucepan with enough water to cook the pasta, boil the fennel clump for a couple of minutes. Drain it, chop it up and set a spoonful aside. Keep the water in which you cooked the fennel aside because you will need it to cook the pasta.

In a large frying pan, melt the butter and oil over a moderate heat, add the garlic cut in half (this will give you time to remove it before adding the pasta to the sauce), thyme, rosemary, fennel, sage, mint and pine nuts and leave to season for a couple of minutes over a moderate heat. Meanwhile boil the water in which you had cooked the fennel and add the pasta, season with salt and wait until the pasta is cooked al dente. When it is ready, drain it (keep some of the cooking water aside) and put it in the pan with the herbs.

Remember to remove the two pieces of garlic first. Cook in the pan 30 seconds until the Fusilloni has taken all the seasoning, if you see it too dry add a little of the pasta cooking water. Add a sprinkling of pecorino cheese and place on the plate. Before serving, grate the zest of a lemon without fear of overdoing it and add a few mint leaves to decorate the dish.

Tips

‘The grated peel of a lemon (only the yellow part, not the white) just before serving will give the dish a note of freshness and mix perfectly with the other flavours.’