Tomato & broad bean orecchiette

A beautiful summer Italian pasta dish of orecchiette, tomato, broad beans, fresh basil and pecorino cheese. This quick and delicious pasta recipe is from Jamie Oliver’s book, Jamie Cooks Italy.

A beautiful summer Italian pasta dish of orecchiette, tomato, broad beans, fresh basil and pecorino cheese.

Serve 4
Cook in 30 minutes 

Ingredients
1 x Orecchiette , (or 300g dried orecchiette)
1 onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
375 g new season's broad beans
250 g ripe tomatoes
½ a bunch of fresh basil , (15g)
20 g salted ricotta , or pecorino cheese

Method
  • Make your Orecchiette. Peel and finely slice the onion and place in a wide shallow pan on a medium heat with the oil. Stir occasionally while you pod the broad beans (they're very small and tender, but if you can only get larger beans, simply pinch the skins off), then add them to the pan and cook for 6 minutes. Chop the tomatoes into rough 1cm dice, then add to the pan. Season with sea salt and black pepper, then pick and tear in the leaves from the basil.
  • Meanwhile, cook the orecchiette in boiling salted water for 4 minutes (or cook dried orecchiette according to the packet instructions). Scoop the pasta into the sauce and toss together, loosening with pasta cooking water, if needed. Finely grate over the cheese and toss again, finishing with an extra grating of cheese, if you like.