My ideal pasta dish, filled with vegetables, a little protein and just enough sauce to coat those ‘little ears’. Seriously dreamy. The leeks are cooked slowly so they’re sweet and intense and are so lovely with the chilli and garlic, salty capers and bright broccolini and the just cooked snapper. Everything is finished with a tonne of lemon because I feel like that’s my ingredient of the week!

I used a fish stock in this pasta that I made in 1 hour using the head and bones of the fish along with all the stems of the herbs and vegetables and one brown onion, roughly chopped. I just browned all these ingredients in a pot, covered with water, added a pinch of salt and boiled for 1 hour. Strained and set aside. This is so optional though. You could just use chicken stock or the pasta water instead. I just didn’t want to waste the fish head and bones.

Speaking of the fish, I get my fishmonger to fillet a whole snapper, which gives you 2 snapper fillets. If you want to make stock ask them to give you the carcass too, if not your fishmonger can have it – aren’t you generous;)

By adding the broccolini and leek to this pasta dish you have a lovely balanced meal full of vegetables, a healthy protein and some complex carbs. The extra virgin olive oil adds good fats too, and I can get pretty heavy handed with it but you do you.

I love the capers, lemon, chilli and fresh herbs used to bring this dish together. SO much flavour in each bite and it’s everything I love in a pasta dish. Plus it’s pretty quick to throw together, and that’s always handy.

Serves 4

Ingredients

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

400g orrechiette

2 x snapper fillets

2/3 cup fish or chicken stock can just use pasta water (see above for cheap fish stock tips)

1 leek, washed, quartered lengthways and finely chopped (hard green tips discarded)

2/3 cup dry white wine

1 bunch broccolini

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 red chilli, deseeded and finely diced

1 Tbs capers, roughly chopped

1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

1/2 cup dill, finely chopped

Juice and zest of two lemons

Directions

Bring a large pot of water to the boil for the pasta.

Roughly chop the heads of the broccolini and then slice the stalks into pieces a couple of millimetres thick. Set aside separately.

Meanwhile, place a large high sided pan on medium high heat. Add 2 tsps of oil and once hot place the snapper fillets in skin side down. Cook for 2 minutes each side and remove from the pan. Peel of the skin and flake the fish with a fork or your fingers. Set aside.

Cook pasta according to packet direction.

Add an extra Tbs of oil to the hot pan and then add the leeks and a generous pinch of salt. Cook for a couple of minutes to soften then add the white wine. Cook until white wine is almost evaporated and add the garlic, chilli and a 1/3 cup of stock. Sautee for a few minutes and then add the capers. Add more stock if it’s drying out.

Add the broccolini stems to the pan along with an extra glug of extra virgin olive oil. After 2 minutes add the broccolini heads and continue to sautee for another minute. Turn off the heat and add the pasta, the herbs, the fish, 1/2 the lemon zest, the lemon juice and the remaining oil. If it’s not saucy enough add a couple of Tbs of stock if you have some left (use pasta water instead if you don’t). Toss to combine

Serve with black pepper and the remaining lemon zest. Add more salt if required.

HH. x