Time spent with Chef Maria Rita is guaranteed to be an incredible food experience full of laughter and learning.

I remember my experience with her learning to make Sicilian pasta - which uses selomina flour rather than other sorts of flour used on mainland Italy - which was also lots of fun.

The recipe and method was simple… 200g selomina flour + 100g water + teaspoon of salt mixed together in a bowl and then kneaded through on a worktop.

I was then instructed to roll out a portion of the pasta into a long thin (0.5cm) sausage and then cut it into sections (1.5cm).

What followed was the only part that required a little skill. I was shown how to use a pasta scrapper to roll the pasta sections one at a time on a gnocci board. Miraculously the first one worked perfectly, but one or two that followed needed re-rolling!

Once the pasta swirls were all made it was time to leave them to dry whilst attention turned to the sauce. A beautiful Sicilian red pesto made with almonds and tomatoes rather than green pesto using pine nuts and lots more fresh basil.

Into a small electric mixer we put… 3 handfuls of almonds + 300g tomatoes + lots of basil leaves + 3 garlic cloves + 25g pecorino cheese + 20g salt + 5 glugs olive oil + chilli flakes (to taste). A quick whizz and the sauce was complete! Maria Rita explained how she would watch her mum make this sauce by hand using a pestle and mortar.

Now everything was ready. The pasta was placed in boiling water for a few minutes. It was easy to know when it was cooked because it floated to the top of the water. The pasta was then mixed into the sauce (not visa versa) to ensure there was not too much pasta.

It was the scrummiest pasta dish I have ever eaten but I guess it always tastes better when you have taken time to source, prepare and cook the ingredients!

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