Rigatoni with crema di rucola

I lived in Italy for a few glorious years and the family of my childhood best friend, Giuditta, owned a restaurant called La Casellina in the Tuscan hills outside Rufina. We ate there all the time, and I came to fall madly in love with many of the dishes on the menu. One of which was Ravioli with crema di rucola; ravioli with a sauce made from rocket and laden with cream and cheese. The crema here is inspired by that sauce, although of course this version doesn’t contain any dairy. I’ve used silken tofu, which is utterly untraditional. Rest assured that the flavour of the tofu is completely undetectable, it just provides a smooth, creamy base for the sauce.

Ingredients Serves 4

My fridge is almost never without a jar of Seggiano Crema di peperoncino (Calabrian chilli paste). I add it to everything from sauces, soups and stews to salad dressings. You can buy it online and in many Italian delis. Use chilli flakes if you can’t get hold of it.

250g dried rigatoni

1 tbsp plant-based butter

2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to serve

5g fresh sage leaves

Tomato salsa

2 large ripe tomatoes, halved (300g)

2½ tbsp olive oil

½ tsp Seggiano crema di peperoncino (Calabrian chilli paste)

1 small clove, finely grated/crushed

½ tsp lemon juice

½ tsp fine salt

Crema di rucola

300g silken tofu

50g rocket

15g basil leaves, plus 5 extra leaves to serve

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp dried onion granules

1 small garlic clove

¾ tsp fine salt

Plenty of freshly grated nutmeg

Black pepper (about 10 twists)

Method

Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until al dente (see packet instructions). Drain, reserving 4 tbsp/60ml of the pasta cooking water.

While the pasta is cooking, make the salsa. Grate the tomato halves using the large holes of a box grater and place the pulp in a sieve over a bowl to drain for a few minutes. Discard the tomato skin. Add the drained pulp and ½ tbsp of the tomato juice to a serving bowl with the chilli paste, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice and fine salt. Set aside.

Add all the ingredients for the crema to a blender and blitz until completely smooth. Spoon the crema into a large saute pan and place on a medium heat. Add the pasta and the pasta water and cook, stirring, until the sauce is warm and the pasta is coated, 1-2 mins. Set the pan aside while you fry the sage.

Add the butter and oil to a small frying pan on a medium-high heat. Once the butter has melted, add the sage leaves and fry, swirling the pan, until the leaves crisp and bright green, about 1 min 15 secs. Season generously with salt and pepper.

Transfer the pasta to a platter and spoon over some of the tomato salsa. Top with the crispy sage leaves and some of the buttery oil. Finish with the remaining basil leaves and some flaked salt and serve at once.