Recipe: harissa fennel rigatoni by Sophie Godwin
The harissa achieves a hit of flavour with minimal effort and the fennel adds complexity
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
Harissa is my go-to spice paste whenever I want to achieve a big hit of flavour with minimal effort, said Sophie Godwin, and it’s especially good in pasta. I love fennel, but even if you are usually put off by its strong flavour, do try it here. Caramelised and soft, it adds texture and complexity to what is basically a very simple cherry tomato sauce.
Ingredients: serves two
- 30g pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
- 1 large fennel bulb
- 200g-250g rigatoni or tortiglioni (depending on how hungry you are)
- 3 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
- 3 fat garlic cloves
- 250g cherry tomatoes
- handful of dill or parsley
- 1 lemon
- 2-3 tbsp harissa (depending on how spicy you like it)
- 30g parmesan, pecorino or veggie alternative (optional)
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
- Toast the pumpkin seeds in a small, dry frying pan over a medium heat until they start popping. Remove from the heat, sprinkle with salt and set aside.
- Put a large saucepan of salted water on to boil. While the water is heating up, very finely slice the fennel bulb, picking off the green fronds for later. Drop the pasta into the boiling water and cook for 1 minute less than the packet instructions.
- Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a high heat. Add the sliced fennel, along with a pinch of salt, and fry, stirring occasionally, for around 5 minutes until the fennel is just softened and starting to caramelise. Finely slice the garlic and cut the cherry tomatoes in half.
- Add the garlic to the fennel and cook, stirring, for 1 minute more, then chuck in the cherry tomatoes, along with a ladleful of the water from the pasta pan. Bubble away, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes have broken down into a sauce. Reduce the heat to super low. Roughly chop the herbs and zest the lemon.
- Once the pasta is cooked, drain it, reserving half a mug of pasta water. Tip the pasta into the sauce, then add the harissa. Stir to combine, then drizzle over a bit more olive oil and enough reserved pasta water, until each piece of pasta is coated in the glossy sauce.
- Stir through most of the herbs and all the lemon zest. Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste. Divide between two bowls, then grate over the cheese, if using. Top with the toasted seeds, along with the remaining herbs and the fennel fronds, to serve. Banging.
Recipe from “Sundays: A cookbook” by Sophie Godwin, published by Murdoch Books at £20. Photography by Caitlin Isola. To buy from The Week Bookshop for £15.99, call 020-3176 3835 or visit theweekbookshop.co.uk.
Sign up for The Week’s Food & Drink newsletter for recipes, reviews and recommendations.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
-
Ben Fountain's 6 favorite books about Haiti
Feature The award-winning author recommends works by Marie Vieux-Chauvet, Katherine Dunham and more
By The Week Staff Published
-
6 picturesque homes in apartments abroad
Feature Featuring a wall of windows in Costa Rica and a luxury department store-turned-home in New Zealand
By The Week Staff Published
-
Why 2023 has been the year of strikes and labor movements
The Explainer From Hollywood to auto factories, workers are taking to the picket lines
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Ben Fountain's 6 favorite books about Haiti
Feature The award-winning author recommends works by Marie Vieux-Chauvet, Katherine Dunham and more
By The Week Staff Published
-
6 picturesque homes in apartments abroad
Feature Featuring a wall of windows in Costa Rica and a luxury department store-turned-home in New Zealand
By The Week Staff Published
-
Recipe: roasting-tin chicken with fennel and citrus by Bee Wilson
The Week Recommends A roasting-tin recipe with sweet and sour flavours
By The Week Staff Published
-
'Happy Gas': Sarah Lucas at Tate Britain
The Week Recommends This 'vindaloo of sculpture, photography and text' makes for a 'grubbily fascinating' exhibition
By The Week Staff Published
-
Falstaff: an environmentally aware opera that 'sparkles'
The Week Recommends Verdi's comedy is brought to life with a 'fizzing score' and 'dead-on comedic timing'
By The Week Staff Published
-
6 vibrant homes with art studios
Feature Featuring a six-bedroom home in Vermont and a rustic-modern house in California
By The Week Staff Published
-
6 thrilling reads chosen by Ken Follett
Feature The historical novelist suggests works by Frank Herbert, Charles Dickens and more
By The Week Staff Published
-
Recipe: chicken and ricotta meatballs in broth by Julius Roberts
The Week Recommends A warming soup for autumnal evenings with orzo, crème fraîche and dill
By The Week Staff Published