Pasta in a creamy tomato sauce with lemon

Hello everyone, I had some fun earlier today shopping for a soup I am planning to make tomorrow afternoon. I am making pea and ham soup, which I have never done before. It seems like such an old fashioned (in a good sense) thing to make. Both my Nana and my Mum used to make pea and ham soup every winter and finally I am doing so too. So because it is a first, I was a little uncertain of some of the ingredients I was purchasing, namely the peas and the ham. I needed to buy 500g of split green peas, and although I have a good sense of what 500g looks like, I had a mental image of struggling home with a sack bursting with split peas. Of course it was quite a modest sized packet I found. I then went to the butcher to inquire about ham hocks, having no idea at all what I would be buying. The butcher brought out an enormous bone with lots of ham on it, so big he suggested chopping it in two for me. He assured me it would give the soup a lovely flavour. So I did struggle home with the great big ham hock, but am very much looking forward to having some lovely warming soup for dinner tomorrow night.

This week's recipe is what I think of as a slightly unusual combination of flavours, but it works well and I have marked it in my cook book as "very nice". Regular readers will know that I love the flavour of lemon, and I also love creamy sauces, which is probably why I like this one so much. It is yet another recipe from one of my favourite books, Trattoria Pasta by Loukie Werle.

It will be interesting to see how this week unfolds in Sydney with the long anticipated World Youth Day upon us. Have a great week yourself. Love from Jane xx

Pasta in a creamy tomato sauce with lemon

Serves four

What you need:

• 1/2 cup thick cream
• Peel of one lemon, preferably in one piece if you can
• 3 ripe, medium sized tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 500g pasta
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

What you do:

1. Combine the cream and lemon peel in a large pan.
2. Slowly bring to a boil, then add the tomatoes.
3. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the sauce starts to reduce and thicken, which will take about five minutes.
4. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in plenty of boiling water.
5. Remove the lemon peel from the sauce.
6. Drain the pasta and add to the sauce, stirring well to coat all of the pasta.
7. Stir in the Parmesan cheese and serve immediately.