ENGLISH SUMMER PASTA AL PESTO

I first cooked this dish with my nephew Sam Leith, the journalist, during a photo shoot for Saga magazine. We made it up as we went along, and were both surprised at how delicious it was. The trick is to have really good walnuts, as fresh as possible – not the ones from the half-used pack you found at the back of the cupboard.

Serves 6

600g (1lb 5oz) tagliatelle A little splash of olive oil

For the pesto

1 x 100g bunch (or 3 packets) of fresh, flat-leaf parsley, stalks removed

140g (5oz) fresh walnuts 3 large garlic cloves 170g (6oz) mature Cheddar cheese, broken into 3cm (1¼in) chunks 150ml (5fl oz) rapeseed oil

Salt and black pepper

Heat a large saucepan of salted water over a medium heat. Once it is bubbling, add the tagliatelle and cook for 8-10 minutes (or 2-3 minutes if you’re using fresh pasta), until just al dente.

Drain the pasta, rinse under hot water and leave in the colander to steam dry for 1 minute before returning to the pan. Stir through a little olive oil to prevent the pasta from sticking together. Set aside.

While the pasta is cooking, make the pesto. Put the flat-leaf parsley, walnuts and garlic into a food processor and blitz until smooth. Add the Cheddar cheese and blitz again. Gradually pour in the rapeseed oil as you continue to pulse until it looks like pesto.

Stir the pesto through the tagliatelle, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and serve immediately.