PENNE WITH ASPARAGUS

When a dish has just four ingredients, the difference between mundane and great really comes down to the quality of those ingredients. Apart from salt and pepper (and I will return to these in a moment), the ingredients here are the pasta, the asparagus, the parmesan and the oil used.

The pasta is a lovely organic penne from Gioie di Fattoria. The asparagus is from the local markets. The parmesan is a 2007 Reggiano. The oil is the sensational Colonna Granverde, made from olives and lemons crushed together. The salt is coarse grey sea salt hand harvested from Guerande. The pepper is Tellicherry from India - larger, fruitier and hotter than regular black pepper. You can make this dish with supermarket penne and asparagus, with grana padana in place of the Reggiano and with a pedestrian olive oil, salt and pepper. You will have a nice dish, but not a great one.

PENNE WITH ASPARAGUS