Recipe: Pasta with Lemon and Artichoke Sauce

This is a fresh, little sauce, based on my theory that it’s possible to mix up something tasty in the time that it takes for the pasta to cook. This is a great cheat sauce as well – giving you a tangy, fresh taste using mostly store cupboard ingredients. A word of warning – be careful of the lemon zest – this is a pasta sauce not lemon curd!

Ingredients
200g pasta
1 clove garlic, crushed
6 artichoke hearts, drained and sliced
200ml coconut milk
1 lemon, juiced
A few gratings of lemon rind (optional)
1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped

Put the pasta on to boil.
While the pasta is cooking, heat some olive oil in a small frying pan and add the garlic.
When the garlic starts to brown, add the sliced artichoke hearts and fry them gently until they start to colour.
Add the coconut milk and lemon juice and simmer.
Taste to see if you need more lemon flavour and if so, add a couple of gratings of lemon rind.
Season with salt and pepper.
When the pasta is cooked, drain well, and toss in the frying pan with the sauce until it is coated.
Serve with the basil leaves scattered on top.

Serves 2

Recipe: Artichoke and Spring Onion Dip

This is a little gem of a dip. It’s quickly made from store-cupboard ingredients, but it has a lovely savoury flavour. It’s great if you want something lighter than the usual creamy dips and if you want something just that bit different.

Ingredients
400g tin of artichoke hearts, drained
4 spring onions, finely chopped
2 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tsp lemon juice

Put the ingredients in a blender, keeping some of the spring onions back as a garnish.
Blend until smooth.
Season with salt and pepper.
Serve, sprinkled with the remaining spring onions

Serves 2, with other dips