QUICK LISTEN - BSF (From Ep 416)

BOOK: Caro: The Quiet American by Graham Greene

SCREEN: Caro: Pressure on at cinemas

FOOD: Corrie: Tomato, Pasta and Olive Stew with Salsa Verde by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

680g jar tomato passata

1 litre vegetable stock

2 garlic cloves, sliced

150g wholewheat pasta, such as penne or rigatoni

About 100g frozen peas 50g black olives, pitted and very roughly chopped

400g tin lentils Salsa verde

A bunch of flat-leaf parsley

A few sprigs of thyme (optional)

1 garlic clove, roughly chopped

2 teaspoons capers

Grated zest of 1 lemon and a good squeeze of juice ½ teaspoon

English mustard

About 100ml extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

First, make the salsa verde. Pick the leaves off the parsley (and thyme too, if using) and pile them on a large board. Add the chopped garlic, capers and lemon zest.

Using a large, sharp knife, chop and scrape everything together to a texture you like. Scrape the mixture into a small bowl and add salt, pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice and the mustard. Stir well, then drizzle in the extra-virgin olive oil, stirring as you go and stopping when you have the consistency you want. Taste to check the seasoning, adding more lemon juice, salt, pepper and/or mustard as you like. Set aside. To make the stew, put the passata and vegetable stock into a large saucepan and add the garlic. Bring to a rolling boil, then add the pasta. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often as pasta has a tendency to stick to the bottom of the pan. Add the frozen peas and olives and cook for another couple of minutes, still stirring, until the peas are cooked and the stew is boiling again.

Now add the lentils with their liquid (add about 100ml water if using drained pre-cooked lentils). Cook for a couple of minutes, until the pasta is just al dente, then take off the heat; the pasta will continue to cook a little in the hot liquid. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed (the olives will probably have contributed enough salt). Ladle the stew into warmed bowls, then dot with salsa verde and serve.