A Ricotta Topped Spaghetti

Pasta Month continues

Before I dive into this week’s recipe I wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who sent a message about the personal newsletter I sent at the end of last month. It felt good to finally let out something that had had me in knots for such a long time, and better too to know that it resonated with many of you.

Onto this week… Our pasta is another 10-minute job, which can be made with courgette flowers OR a courgette, ricotta, and just a couple of other ingredients. It’s quick and summery and most of all really tasty. Further down, thoughts on the insane vegetable/baby analogies that have marked my weeks this year.

If you ask me, the modus operandi of a good pasta is simplicity and speed. This week’s recipe fits the brief. It comes together in less time than it takes the pasta cook, as you’ll see. I decided to serve the minty ricotta on top of the spaghetti sort of how Dan Dan noodles is served unstirred, to be mixed by the eater. I like doing this because it’s a fun little ceremony before beginning to eat, like Tony Soprano moving his pasta around on his fork 14 times before taking a bite. I also like the cooling effect the ricotta has on the pasta and the way it coats it.

This year I have grown courgettes for the first time ever. It has been truly thrilling. It has meant I have my very own flowers to play with, and although I love serving them stuffed with ricotta and deep-fried, I wanted to use them in a different way here.

They’re so delicate, so don’t need any time in a pan really – just enough to flavour them with anchovies and and olive oil before they become wilted in the heat of the pasta. I’m not an idiot and I know that courgette flowers aren’t easy to come by, so if you don’t have an elaborate greengrocers/plant/allotment near you, just use a courgette peeled into thin ribbons with a Y peeler (leaving the fluffy core and eating it as a snack as you cook). Jobs a good’en.

Let me know what you think!

Courgette (Flower) and Ricotta Spaghetti

2 tbsp olive oil
200g spaghetti
100g ricotta
4-5 anchovies
A small handful of mint, sliced
6-7 courgette flowers, stamens removed and sliced, OR one courgette, peeled into ribbons
1 lemon

1. Put your spaghetti on to boil in salted water.

2. Next, mix the mint through the ricotta gently, so as not to over-beat it.

3. In a frying pan, add the olive oil and melt the anchovies in it. Grate in the zest of half the lemon then add the sliced courgette flowers or ribbons of courgette and allow to soften gently for just a minute or so.

4. When the pasta is cooked, add it into your frying pan and toss with the courgette (flowers) and anchovies, seasoning well with salt and pepper. Add a splash of pasta water to make the whole thing silky, and squeeze in as much lemon juice as suits your taste. Plate up, then finish with the minty ricotta in a pile and a drizzle of olive oil on top of each bowl, to be stirred through by each eater at the table/sofa. Enjoy!

Who to trust in the baby as fruit/vegetable truth wars?

If you or someone you know has ever been pregnant, you might be familiar with the apps that track a baby’s growth by comparison with fruits and vegetables. These weekly updates provide a silly guide of what’s going on inside your womb, and track your baby’s growth from a poppy seed to a watermelon. They offer simple, lighthearted fun, for all involved.

Every week since I have been pregnant, though, I have read about what is happening inside my body and with my baby on the NHS website, on a pregnancy app, and in emails from Tommy’s (an NHS associated charity). Each of these ‘platforms’ provides a different comparison of the baby with a vegetable or fruit, based on differing predicted sizes and weights. They are never consistent, both between the platforms, but also within themselves, week-to-week. For instance, they will suggest my baby is long and disconcertingly thin as a stick of rhubarb one week, then short and round like a coconut the next.

On one particularly memorable week, the baby was apparently the size of a carrot according to the NHS and a cantaloupe melon according to the app, all at once.

Can anybody make it make sense?

1 year ago… Hot Calamari Sandwiches
2 years ago… Lamb Leg Steaks, Tzatiki and Lemony Greek Potatoes