Italian recipes

This recipe uses mafalda corta, a short, flat, ribbony pasta with a wavy edge from the Campania region of Italy. If you can't find that, any other short pasta (such as penne or gemelli) with ridges to hold the sauce will work just as well.

Put the pasta on to cook.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the broccoli and fry, stirring, for a few minutes before adding the pine nuts, garlic, chilli and a pinch of salt

Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan and fry the chicken strips until they are lightly browned. Add the garlic and continue cooking for a few minutes, stirring so the garlic doesn't catch.

Heat the olive oil in a casserole pan and brown the mince, breaking up any lumps. Add the carrot, garlic and rosemary and continue frying for a few minutes over a medium heat, stirring all the time.

If using fresh tomatoes, blanch in boiling water for a minute, remove and place in iced water. Skin and seed them into a sieve over a bowl to reserve juices. Discard seeds and skin. Chop tomatoes finely.

Heat oil in large pan and cook onion over low heat for about 10 mins until soft. Add rice and turn to coat with oil and onion. The rice should not colour but become translucent

In a large frying pan, fry the bacon in a good slug of olive oil unitl just cooked (not crispy). Add the onion and fry on a low heat until soft but not coloured. Next, add the garlic and fry for a minute or two

Blanch the 6 cloves in boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain all the water off then add 200ml of the stock and half the butter. Simmer, uncovered, for about 15 minutes until the garlic is really soft and the stock and butter have reduced to a syrupy glaze.

Put the stock in a pan and bring to a simmering boil. Blanch the asparagus spears in the stock for a couple of minutes then take out and place immediately in cold water to cool down.