Penne Rigate con Piselli

No picture because despite my best efforts the yoghurt split and the whole thing looked a little unappetising because of it but it was much more delicious than it looked and so I'd certainly make it again.

Rigate in Italian means striped or in the case of pasta, ridged. The ridges hold lots of sauce and are most important for this dish but the actual shape of the pasta isn't too important so long as it is tubular. Ditalini, little thimbles, very short cut tubular pasta is often used instead of penne or other forms.

I was lucky enough to find some fresh peas in the local Somerfield supermarket. Despite the vast body of literature you can find supporting the frozen pea for taste and nutrition proper peas in their pods have a magic that's hard to beat. Grow them if you can, but don't miss buying them if they look fresh and young, because it is worth it.

This makes enough for four as a pasta course, three as a main course and two greedy people.

750g peas in the pod
250g penne rigate
garlic
saffron
soya yoghurt
cornflour
olive oil
sesame oil
freshly ground black pepper

Pod your peas, try not to eat too many as you do it. Put a huge pan of water on for the pasta and bring it to a good boil. Put a large pinch of saffron in a small bowl and add a couple of tablespoons of hot water.

In a deep frying pan put a splash of olive oil and a teaspoonful of toasted sesame oil and gently fry off your finely chopped garlic. I haven't given a quantity because everyone differs in how much garlic they enjoy. I used three cloves. Add the peas and stir around in the garlicky oil, season with black pepper, then add a few ladlefuls of hot water and bring to a simmer. Just how much you'll need is debatable, there should be enough to barely cover the peas so that they will cook in water but not too much or the sauce will be overly watery later.

Put your pasta into the fiercely boiling water and set a timer if you're like me and prone to forgetting how long it's had. Read the packet for timings.

Mix your saffron, its liquid, a 125g pot of soya yoghurt (or about that quantity) and a biggish teaspoonful of cornflour. My mistake I think, was insufficient cornflour but then I didn't want a custard, just to stop the yoghurt splitting. Good luck with that.

By now the water on the peas should have reduced and the peas will be tender. Carefully mix your yoghurt mixture into the pan to make a fairly liquid sauce that is golden and green with peas and will coat your pasta delightfully. When I did this I panicked and thought the sauce was too wet but actually it wasn't at all once the pasta was added.

Drain your cooked pasta well, mix into the sauce and serve, with a little chopped parsley over the top.