Nigel Slater's recipe for spinach and zucchini bucatini

A quick pasta supper with summer vegetables and fresh cream.

Wash 200g baby spinach . While the leaves are still moist, put them in a saucepan, cover tightly with a lid, and cook over medium heat for a minute or two, until the leaves begin to wilt. Lift the lid and flip with kitchen tongs, then cook for another minute until tender and emerald green.

Immediately drop the leaves in ice water, then wring out the water with your hands. Coarsely chop and set aside.

Bring a large pot of deep water to a boil. Salt it generously, then use it to cook 200g of bucatini, spaghetti or similar thin pasta until al dente.

Peel and crush a clove of garlic. Cut a large zucchini in half lengthwise, then in half again and then into thin slices. Cook until translucent in a little olive oil in a shallow pan - about 10 minutes. Add the garlic. When the zucchini begin to soften, after 4 or 5 minutes, and the garlic has turned golden, remove them from the pan and drain them on paper towels.

Wipe out the pan, then add 200 g of fresh cream and heat gently over medium heat. Add 150g of frozen peas then the chopped spinach.

Drain the pasta, leaving 2 tablespoons of cooking water with the pasta. Add the pasta and reserved water to the vegetable sauce and toss gently then divide between 2 bowls. Serve with a little grated parmesan or pecorino and half a lemon to squeeze. Enough for 2.

If using fresh peas, cook them in a little lightly salted boiling water before adding them to the zucchini.

As young zucchini come into season, this is a great way to use them. The skin is thicker than a zucchini, so peel it off with a vegetable peeler before slicing.

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