Pici with garden herbs and yoghurt

This delicious pasta recipe couldn’t be easier to make at home using homegrown ingredients. Pici is a pleasingly bouncy pasta shape which works beautifully with this easy yoghurt and fresh herb dressing – and you can use whatever so t herbs you have growing in the garden that are ready to harvest.

For the pici

■ 300g strong white bread lour

■ 150ml water

■ 1 tablespoon olive oil

■ ½ teaspoon sea salt

For the sauce

■ 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

■ 4 heaped tablespoons Greek yoghurt

■ 50g mixed so t garden herbs (such as lat-leaf parsley, basil, mint, lemon verbena or tarragon), chopped

■ ½ clove garlic, finely grated

■ ½ lemon, juice only

■ Freshly ground black pepper

■ Sea salt lakes, to taste

Method 1 Mix the lour, water, olive oil and sea salt. Bring it together with your hands, then knead by hand or in a mixer for five minutes until smooth and elastic. Flatten into a disk, then leave it to rest for 30 minutes.

2 Roll the pici dough on a loured surface into a rectangle about 40cm by 15cm, and use a dough cutter or knife to cut thin horizontal strips, 2-3mm wide. Roll each strip of dough into a long worm, then transfer to loured trays in a single layer (or use loured layers of greaseproof paper) and continue until you’ve used up all the dough. You can cook them immediately, or cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.

3 When you’re ready to eat, take the yoghurt out of the fridge and bring a very large pan of salted water to the boil. Cook the pici for 5-6 minutes until cooked through, but with a tiny bit of bite. Meanwhile, mix together all the sauce ingredients and add salt to taste.

Drain the pasta, reserving a mugful of the pasta water. Return the pici to the pan and gently stir through the herb and yoghurt sauce. Taste the pasta, adjusting the lemon juice and salt as needed, and serve straight away in warmed bowls.