Julius Roberts’ Courgette Pasta with Homemade Cavatelli

For the homemade cavatelli

Pour the flour into a bowl. (You can use any flour – try experimenting with different wheats, different combinations etc. Even bog-standard plain flour will work if it’s all you’ve got.) Get the water hot but not so hot you can’t dip your finger into it. Pour this over the flour and season with a pinch of salt. Using a chopstick or the stick end of a wooden spoon, mix together until it forms a shaggy dough. Tip out on to your work surface and knead into a ball for just a few minutes. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rest for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes you will feel that the once firm ball has now relaxed. Take a small pea-size piece and roll it against the grooves of a butter paddle or fork, to sort of curl it over on itself. You can even make these by just rolling the dough against your work surface. I would recommend watching a video online just to see the action. If there are a few of you working together this won’t take long at all. Keep the dough covered with a tea towel to stop if drying out and make sure your work surface has some semolina on it to stop the cavatelli from sticking. You can roll out little snakes of dough and then chop into pea-size pieces ready to roll for speed and efficiency.

To cook, simply drop into seasoned boiling water and simmer for 3–5 minutes, until tender but with a nice bit of bite. Scoop out with a slotted spoon and combine with your sauce and a splash of the starchy pasta water.

For the courgette pasta

Start by bringing a large pan of well-seasoned water to the boil for the pasta.

Slice the courgettes into rounds about as thick as your little finger, cutting any large courgettes in half lengthways first. Heat the olive oil in a wide pan and add the courgettes. Season well with salt to draw out the moisture and fry for 5 minutes to get things going, before adding the garlic and chilli flakes. The key here is to end up with courgettes that are softened but not mushy, some beginning to collapse while others still have a bit of bite. The oil should be richly infused with garlic that has sweetened and not taken on any colour. Keep stirring the courgettes, and meanwhile get the pasta in.

When the pasta is al dente, remove a large mug of starchy water from the pan before straining. Add the pasta to the courgettes, grate in the lemon zest, then add the mascarpone and a generous splash of the reserved pasta water. Mix vigorously until the sauce is well combined and coats the pasta, adding more pasta water and mascarpone as needed. Squeeze in the juice of half the lemon, then add the basil and butter. Mix again and taste to check your seasoning – it may need a splash more lemon juice and salt. Serve immediately with a drizzle of really good olive oil.