Linguette ai fiori

RECIPE BY TONY PERCUOCO FROM RISTORANTE FELLINI, GOLD COAST

SERVES 4

This dish originated in Positano and was created to celebrate summer, with its rich colours representing freshness and vitality. If you can’t find squid-ink pasta, you can use fresh squid ink — add a little to the dish during cooking. If you want to add some chillies do so moderately so you don’t overpower the sweetness of the recipe. Use a nice bottle of pinot grigio, preferably Italian — what isn’t used in the recipe can be served alongside the pasta.

400 g (14 oz) squid-ink dried linguette or fettuccine

olive oil

150 g (5½ oz) raw prawns (shrimp), peeled and deveined

150 g (5½ oz) squid tubes, cleaned and sliced

3 garlic cloves, sliced

100 g (3½ oz) zucchinis (courgette), sliced

3 roma (plum) tomatoes, seeded and chopped (I love san marzano tomatoes)

1 red chilli, sliced (optional)

90 ml (3 fl oz) dry white wine

1 small handful flat-leaf (Italian)parsley, chopped

12 zucchini (courgette) flowers, roughly torn

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Fill a large saucepan with plenty of water and add a very generous pinch of salt. Bring the water to the boil and add the pasta giving it a stir so that it separates and doesn’t stick together. Stir every 5 minutes and check for readiness by tasting the pasta. You want it to be al dente, literally ‘to the tooth’, which means that when you bite the pasta there is a tiny bit of resistance in the centre of the pasta. Tip the water and pasta into a colander and drain. Do not rinse the pasta as you will wash away starch and flavour. Pour a splash of oil into a large heavy-based frying pan and heat over high heat. When the oil is hot, add the prawns, squid and some salt and cook for a few minutes. Add the garlic, zucchini, tomato and a little more salt and cook for a further 2 minutes. You can add chilli if you prefer a slightly hotter dish.

Deglaze the pan with the wine and cook for a further 3 minutes or until the liquid is hot. Add the drained pasta to the pan, stirring frequently. Sprinkle with the chopped parsley, add the zucchini flowers last (otherwise they will turn bitter) and half the amount of extra virgin olive oil and mix together well.

Serve on individual large flat plates or a platter, drizzle the remaining oil around the plate and serve. And please under no circumstances is this dish to have parmesan cheese. Buon appetito.