Apologies for the silence. Several postings are, so to speak, brewing. In he meantime, the summer issue of FAL Newsletter is out and there is plenty to read there. For once, we shall start by quoting something light, a recipe that sounds absolutely excellent: Creamy Tagliatelle with Prawns and Spinach. (Ha! You didn't expect that.)

Ingredients:

•300-500g prawns
• 500g spinach
• 500g fresh tagliatelle
• 250ml fresh cream
• 250ml white wine
• 1 chopped onion
• Optional - 3 medium sized mushrooms (chopped)
• 3-4 cloves of garlic (chopped)
• Pinch of salt
• Grind of pepper
• 1/3 teaspoon of paprika

Method:

Lightly fry the chopped onion and fresh prawns in butter until translucent. Next, add the chopped garlic and fry for a further 2 minutes. Add ½ of the white wine and let it simmer for 1 minute, then add the cream and remaining white wine.

Let this simmer so that the wine is reduced and flavours are absorbed. Be careful not to have the pan on a high heat as this will cause your sauce to be lumpy and keep stirring it. Flavour your sauce with salt and pepper and a small sprinkle of paprika.

 In the meantime…

Bring a pot of water to the boil. Add salt and olive oil and the pasta. As this is fresh pasta, it will only require 4 minutes cooking time. Once al dente (um, still a little hard to chew) drain your pasta and then put it back in the pot and add the fresh spinach. Put a lid on the pot. This will ensure that the spinach wilts amongst the heat of the pasta. Once your spinach is wilted (only takes 2 minutes) add the pasta with the spinach to the creamy white wine and prawn sauce and serve. Buon appetito!