The Dolce Vita Diaries

Our favourite new Nudo sott’olio is the artichoke hearts. At a moments notice you can whip them up into a ‘restaurant quality’ dish. Our new organic artichoke hearts are soft yet firm, flavoursome yet subtle, earthy yet fragrant. These are the ying, the yang, the bling the blang. If your heart doesn’t flutter as your mouth draws you near, you’d better check for a pulse.

Ingredients for 4 people
Onion – 1
Garlic – 2 cloves
Artichoke hearts – 120g
Dried Spaghetti – 400g
Egg yolks – 2
Butter – 100g
Parmesan – 60g grated
Pecorino – 40g grated
Basil – handful of fresh leaves.

Finely chop the onions and garlic and fry in half the butter. Chop up the artichoke hearts and when the onions start to go clear add them to the pan.

Cook the spaghetti according to the instructions on the pack. When the pasta is nearly al dente, get the sauce ready by adding the remaining butter and egg yolks to the artichoke/onion mix, off the heat. Swirl them in vigorously to get yourself a rich, creamy mixture.

Then add your cooked, drained spaghetti. Mix in the grated cheeses. Finally add the basil leaves, which will bite through the richness. Our dish often ends up really orange because the eggs we use, from our neighbour, come from chickens fed with corn. But even without that, this dish is always rich and luxurious. Serve immediately.. Mix in the chopped tomatoes, capers and pine nuts and toss over the dressing. There, you can hardly call that a recipe at all!