Summer Eating -Triple Garlic Pasta with vegetables from the garden

Growing veg can be a thankless task and the best-laid plans are very often gobbled up by the relentless army of slugs that are always ready to wolf down anything nice and tender, which is basically all plants until they get going. Countless pea shoots, beans, lettuce and even a whole courgette plant can be demolished in an hour or two if I don't get out there after dark and remove the feckers far down the back lane.

As frustrating as this is, it's totally balanced by the satisfaction of cooking something I grew myself. Rarely do I have enough of one thing to make a meal, but there's usually enough of a few things to make something.

At the moment there's Tuscan kale, some kind of spring onion (I honestly can't remember what I planted) and courgettes. I keep missing the flowers, but the one plant that survived the slug invasions has been producing an unexpectedly generous crop.

A couple of weeks ago I made a jar of garlic confit and it's been coming in very handy ever since. The process is very simple and it's become something I reach for almost daily because it has a way of making simple food taste like you've made much more of an effort than you actually have. If you'd like to make your own, you can find the recipe here.

Back to the pasta. This one has a lot of garlic, and different types too, so it's got lots of rich, deep garlic notes. First there's the garlic-infused olive oil from the confit, which is used to cook the vegetables. Then there's about six or seven cloves of the actual garlic confit, beautifully rich and sweet, pounded with a good pinch of flaky salt and a clove of fresh garlic to add a little spikiness. Finally, once the sauce has been tossed with the pasta, I top everything off with breadcrumbs mixed with West of Dingle Black Garlic Salt and lemon zest, which makes the whole dish aromatic and very moreish.

I know that's a lot of garlic, but somehow it's not too much. And just think how happy your immune system will be.

If making garlic confit from scratch is just a bridge too far (and I get it), simply use as much fresh garlic in the sauce as you like and skip the garlic breadcrumbs.

Once you have your veggies, making the sauce couldn't be simpler. Slice the spring onions, chop the courgettes and shred the kale. Cook the onions and courgettes gently in the garlic oil (or any good extra virgin olive oil if you haven't made the confit) until they're soft, then add the fresh garlic. Once that's fragrant, stir in the kale and let it wilt down before seasoning well and adding a squeeze of lemon juice.

Toss everything through your pasta with plenty of Parmesan.

The real power move, though, is the topping.

Whenever I have leftover focaccia, I tear it into pieces and blitz it into fairly chunky breadcrumbs (see below). These get fried gently in garlic-infused olive oil until crisp and golden before being tossed with the zest of half a lemon and a generous pinch of West of Dingle Black Garlic Salt. (I may need to invest in a catering-sized tub of this stuff at this stage.)

Scatter the breadcrumbs over the pasta just before serving with another shower of Parmesan and, if you like, a final drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

It's exactly the sort of dinner I love at this time of year. Mostly vegetables from the garden, plenty of garlic, lots of good olive oil and whatever pasta happens to be in the cupboard.

Triple Garlic Pasta

Serves 2–3

Ingredients

• 250g pasta

• 1 medium-sized courgette

• A handful (4–5 large leaves) of Tuscan kale

• 4 spring onions

• 5–6 cloves of garlic confit

• 1 clove fresh garlic

• Garlic-infused olive oil (or a good extra virgin olive oil)

• Juice of half a lemon, plus a little more if needed

• Parmesan

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Garlic Breadcrumbs

• Leftover focaccia or rustic bread

• Garlic-infused olive oil

• Zest of half a lemon

• West of Dingle Black Garlic Salt (or flaky sea salt)

Method

Gently fry the spring onions and courgettes in olive oil until softened. Add the fresh garlic. Pound the garlic confit with a decent pinch of flaky salt, then stir it into the pan.

While the vegetables are cooking, cook the pasta until al dente.

Add the shredded kale to the sauce and toss until wilted. Check the seasoning, adding more if necessary. Finish with a final drizzle of olive oil and the juice of half a lemon.

Add a little pasta cooking water, then toss the sauce with the pasta and plenty of Parmesan.

For the breadcrumbs, blitz the bread into coarse crumbs and fry gently in olive oil until golden and crisp. Toss with the lemon zest and black garlic salt.

Scatter generously over the pasta just before serving.