We both share a total and complete love of pasta – our achilles heel, our death row dish, our hang over comfort go-to, our heart break remedy, our celebratory number one – so it felt right to choose a pasta to be our penultimate recipe. We both met in New York – all those many moons ago, and bonded over the corner pasta joints, sitting out on a busy road side with a cheap glass of wine watching the world buzz by – this is our happy place. New York does very good pasta. Italy does very good pasta (of course). And London is getting there. Its cheap, humble and versatile. No Kitchen should be without a packet of dried pasta in the store cupboard (there are now endless alternative vegan and gluten free options). It’s the go to most evenings of the week. We could go on and on about pasta – how can something so simple be so incredibly delicious – at Padella they have a pasta that is simply with butter and black pepper – heaven. If keeping it simple then think about the ingredients, make sure they are of the highest quality – if making a tomato sauce then use bright red, sweet tomatoes – smell them, feel them, taste them, if they are delicious then they are worth using, if not then don’t make a tomato sauce. Use seasonal ingredients – in the summer make pasta sauces using peas, courgettes, asparagus, herbs, garden leafy greens, artichokes – in the winter go for slow cook ragus, soups and stews. We love adding an extra something – perhaps a nut, a chilli jam, a dollop of a lemony crème fraiche, a fresh and fragrant herb oil or salsa – lift that dish. For us the perfect pasta dish requires balance – its about getting that umami of flavours, the depth and heat of a dried chilli along with with a fresh, hot chilli to elevate. The saltiness of a cheese, something crunchy along with something slow cooked, an abundance of herbs. With pasta – fresh or dried its all about really salting the water and keeping it slightly al dente, always save a little of the pasta water to add to your sauce to make it super smooth and silky and allow the pasta to do its last minute of cooking in the sauce. When deciding the last pasta dish for this column we got thinking about nostalgic summertime ones- and the one that hit the right note was a slow cooked courgette one - but of course with a little tarty twist of fresh chopped herbs, a little crunch of pine kernels and morish spice! The melt-in- your mouth flavour explosion of slow cooked courgettes with dried and fresh mint, garlic and chilli in simply divine. We have also used nduja (our favourite is from Natoora), which we think really lends itself well to this dish- a spicy tang, but of course hold back to keep it vegetarian or spice free. This really is a special dish for an evening in this summer.