The Value of good ingredients

Today, after a week of eating crew food at work for the whole week, I decided to go extra simple with my lunch, and try out my latest purchase at the same time. When I was in Leeds over the Bank Holiday, I bought some VERY good Italian olive oil made by Planeta Winery (who make some great wines too) on the island of sicily, in Val di Mazara. Long story short, It's a lovely fresh fruity tasting olive oil, quite green in colour but tastes delicious.

To me, good ingredients speak for themselves, so I decided to keep the messing about to a minimum, and serve it simply on some linguini with a little black pepper - This is the ideal way to realise the value of good quality ingredients - for Dried Pasta, De Cecco is the best you can get, and makes a huge difference.

For a great summery pasta dish, that can be enjoyed all year round, boil up some pasta (remember; big pot, lots of water, 10g of salt per litre of water). while it's cooking, take some great olive oil, (about 25ml per serving) the Juice of half a largeish lemon per serving, and grate in some parmesan (about 20g per serving). season with S&P, and add more lemon juice or oil to taste. Finely chop some fresh Basil, then drain the pasta, add the oil mixture and shake around the pan until the pasta is evenly coated. stir in the chopped basil, and garnish with lemon zest. Delicious.