Fennel and Olive Fettuccini
with Fresh Parsley (5 MEAL)
It is said that Italy produces 85% of the world's fennel (“finocchio” in Italian). It also happens to be the place where our delicious Del Verde pasta comes from. The best pasta is squeezed through bronze dies (little pasta shaped holes) rather than teflon to give the pasta a rougher edge that sticks to the sauce. It’s trickier to manufacture but it’s worth the effort!
Boxes and ingredients are packed in facilities that handles Peanut, Nuts, Sesame, Fish, Crustaceans, Milk, Egg, Mustard, Celery, Soya, Gluten and Sulphites. Due to the conflict in Ukraine, it has been necessary to substitute sunflower oil with rapeseed oil in some products without a label change. The FSA have advised that allergic reactions to rapeseed oil are rare.
1 unit(s)
Garlic Clove
½ unit(s)
Red Chilli
2 tbsp
Pitted Black Olives
2 tbsp
Parsley
1 unit(s)
Red Pepper
2 cup(s)
Fennel
½ tsp
Fennel Seeds
1 tin(s)
Chopped Tomatoes
220 grams
Fettuccine
(ContainsCereals containing gluten)2 tbsp
Grated Hard Italian Style Cheese
(ContainsMilk, Egg)Not included in your delivery
unit(s)
Salt
unit(s)
Pepper
Pre-heat your oven on to 200 degrees. Peel and very finely dice the garlic. Finely chop as much of the chilli as you dare. Chop the black olives in half and roughly chop the parsley. Cut the top and bottom from the red pepper, remove the core and cut into 1cm strips. Crush the fennel seeds using the back of a knife or a pestle and mortar (if you have one).
Toss the red pepper strips in 1 tbsp of oil and lay on a baking tray. Cook in the oven for 15 mins or until lightly charred on the outside.
Pick the delicate leaves (technically they’re called fronds!) from the fennel and keep. Chop the root from the base and discard. Very thinly slice the fennel widthways. Tip: Ideally use a mandolin if you have one as you want it to be almost translucently thin.
Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a pan on medium heat and add the garlic, chilli and fennel seeds. Cook until the garlic just starts to change colour then add the sliced fennel. Cook for around 6 mins until the fennel is soft. Tip: Don’t brown off the fennel - turn down the heat and add 1 tbsp of water if it’s too hot.
Add the black olives to the pan. Season with 1⁄4 tsp of salt and a few good grinds of black pepper.
Add the tinned tomatoes. Refill the can by a fifth, swill it around and add to the sauce. Tip: You can add 1⁄4 tsp of sugar at this point to lift the flavour even more. Turn the heat to low and bubble away gently until you have a thick sauce.
Boil a pot of water for your pasta. Add 1⁄4 tsp of salt and when it’s rapidly boiling add the pasta (more or less according to hunger). Cook the pasta for 5 mins until ‘al dente’. Tip: ‘Al dente’ simply means it’s cooked but still has a bit of firmness in the middle.
Once the pasta is cooked and your sauce has thickened up, drain the pasta and pour into the sauce along with the roasted red pepper. Toss everything together with the Italian cheese and parsley and you’re done! Tip: For an extra nice bit of presentation very finely chop those fennel fronds and scatter them on top.