Cookbook author Julia Busuttil Nishimura has shared three simple vegetarian pasta recipes for the warmer months ahead. The recipes are drawn from her book Simple Pleasures: Recipes to fall in love with every day, with photography by Armelle Habib, available now through Pan Macmillan Australia for $44.99.
Orecchiette with slow-cooked tomato and ricotta
This dish, pictured above, is inspired by versions Nishimura ate weekly while living in Italy. She notes that the tomatoes become sweet when cooked slowly, almost confit in the oil, and advises buying the ripest and reddest tomatoes available. The recipe serves four.
Ingredients include 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (plus extra for drizzling), 500g cherry tomatoes, a handful of basil leaves, 3 roughly chopped garlic cloves, sea salt, 400g orecchiette, 200g firm full-fat ricotta, and grated Parmigiano Reggiano to serve (substitute with rennet-free parmesan for vegetarians).
Place the olive oil, tomatoes, basil and garlic in a large frying pan, add a good pinch of salt and set over the lowest heat. Gently cook, adding a few splashes of water to stop the sauce drying out if needed, for 35 to 40 minutes or until the tomatoes have completely collapsed and the sauce is thick. Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of salted boiling water until just before al dente, then use a sieve to transfer the pasta directly to the sauce, reserving the pasta water. Add the ricotta along with some reserved pasta water and stir to incorporate. Continue cooking, adding more pasta water as needed to loosen the sauce, until al dente. Season with salt to taste and serve topped with plenty of grated Parmigiano and a generous drizzle of olive oil.
Spaghetti with broad beans and basil pesto
This recipe is described as a classic pesto alla genovese with broad beans to give a creamy texture and flavour. While fresh broad beans hold their shape better once cooked, frozen ones are totally acceptable. It makes quite a bit of pesto, so you can reserve a little for another meal, though Nishimura tends to use the full amount as she loves the pasta well coated. It serves four.
Ingredients include 350g podded broad beans, 400g spaghetti, extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling, and grated pecorino romano to serve (substitute with rennet-free pecorino-style cheese for vegetarians). For the pesto alla genovese: 1 peeled garlic clove, 70g pine nuts, leaves from 2 bunches of basil, 30g grated Parmigiano Reggiano (for vegetarians, substitute with rennet-free parmesan), 30g grated pecorino romano (for vegetarians, substitute with rennet-free pecorino-style cheese), 80ml extra-virgin olive oil, and sea salt.
Blanch the broad beans in a saucepan of boiling water, refresh in cold water and drain. Double-pod half the beans and set aside for serving; reserve the single-podded beans for the pesto. For the pesto, halve the garlic and remove the green shoot from inside if present. Place the garlic, pine nuts, basil, cheeses and single-podded beans in a blender or food processor and pulse until fairly smooth. Drizzle in the olive oil, season with salt and blitz until smooth, then transfer to a large serving bowl. Cook the pasta until al dente and transfer directly to the bowl of pesto, reserving 80ml (⅓ cup) of pasta water. Add the double-podded beans and toss to coat, adding the pasta water a little at a time to loosen the sauce as needed. Season to taste and serve with a good drizzle of extra olive oil and extra grated pecorino.
Fusilli with zucchini and creme fraiche
Nishimura says her favourite time to make this pasta is late spring and early summer when zucchini are small, slender, sweet and tender with minimal seeds. If you have zucchini flowers, they are beautiful roughly torn and stirred through at the end. She loves fusilli with this dish, but casarecce or rigatoni are also lovely. It serves four.
Ingredients include 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (plus extra for drizzling), 700g slender zucchini cut into 1cm rounds, sea salt, 2 roughly chopped garlic cloves, a handful of basil leaves (plus extra to serve), 400g fusilli, 100g creme fraiche, 50g unsalted butter, grated Parmigiano Reggiano or pecorino romano to serve (substitute with rennet-free parmesan and pecorino-style cheese for vegetarians), black pepper, and roughly torn zucchini flowers (optional).
Warm the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the zucchini with a pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender and beginning to colour, about 15 minutes. Add the garlic and basil and cook for another 30 seconds or until fragrant, then reduce the heat to low-medium. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large saucepan of salted boiling water until just before al dente. While the pasta is cooking, add a little pasta water to the zucchini and continue cooking until soft, letting each addition fully cook off and the zucchini begin to fry before adding more water. Use a sieve to transfer the pasta directly to the zucchini, reserving the pasta water. Add the creme fraiche, butter and a good handful of grated cheese to the sauce and toss to coat. Continue cooking, adding pasta water as needed to loosen the sauce, until the pasta is al dente. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve with a generous amount of cheese, a glug of extra olive oil, extra basil leaves and zucchini flowers if you have some.
