Don’t you just love summer food! Through winter it seems to be all about slow roasting, reducing and simmering, but in summer all the best dishes seem to be a matter of finding some fantastic fresh ingredients (often just a matter of walking out to the veggie garden) and throwing them together into a tasty combo like this fusilli.

This dish works great hot or cold; as a light meal on its own, or paired with freshly caught salmon (see the hot-rock salmon recipe, October 2013) for a more substantial meal.

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Serves: Two

Weight: 1.1kg

Volume: 1l

Kilojoules: 8800

Cost: $12

Time: 20min

Ingredients

1tbsp olive oil

4tbsp (or one small pottle) basil pesto

4 medium sized courgettes, sliced lengthways

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

1/4 cup grated Parmesan

500g fusilli* (AKA ‘spirals’ or ‘twirly pasta’)

Salt and pepper

Method

Bring a medium pot of water to the boil, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain and set aside.

Heat the oil in a frying pan, then add the courgette slices. Fry until golden brown, remove and set aside. Add the pine nuts and fry lightly – don’t turn your back on them, they go from perfectly cooked to black in a matter of seconds!

Stir the pesto through the pasta, then add the fried courgette and pine nuts. Garnish with shaved parmesan and a little salt and pepper.