My eldest son made this nifty chopping board inscribed with Cabinet of Cookery as a surprise. 

It is too late, I am too tired and it really is time for me to go to sleep…but not before I blog about this fast and fabulous pasta dish I whipped up for my family this evening. Who would have thought that such readily available ingredients could taste so, so good when teamed with fresh chervil? Everyone had seconds and asked that I make it again. 

Chervil is a type of parsley and is often referred to as “French parsley”. I picked up this ample bunch pictured above from Fruit at Hunters Hill and I was delighted by its aroma and taste. Chervil is a healthy, bright green colour with fine, feathery leaves.  The fronds impart a fragrant aniseed-like flavour to dishes and in the case of tonight’s dinner, managed to make an ordinary pasta taste extraordinary.  

When you are strapped for time, or simply want to make a meal with minimal time spent in the kitchen, this is what you do…

Monday Night Pasta with Button Mushrooms, Broccolini and Chervil to serve 8 people. You can halve the quantities if cooking for a smaller group. 

Put a large pot of water on to boil, remembering to salt it first. Then start on the pasta sauce. 

Finely slice 300 grams of button mushrooms and crush 3 large garlic cloves. Sauté in a tablespoon of olive oil and 50 grams of unsalted butter until the mushrooms turn a golden brown colour and soften slightly. remove from the heat. 

Meanwhile, drop 2 bunches of broccolini into the pot of boiling water for 3 minutes. When you remove them from the boiling water using tongs, cut into 2 cm lengths. At this point add the pasta to the boiling water to cook – I used 750 grams of farfalle . Add the broccolini to the mushroom mixture along with 200 grams of finely diced honey glazed ham slices. Grind over sea salt and black pepper to taste. 

Put the pan back onto the heat and warm through with 150 ml of pure cream and 1 cup of chervil which has been finely chopped.

Toss this mixture through your drained pasta and grate over a liberal amount of parmesan. Top with a little more chervil to serve.