Want to make something cute for your Easter lunch this year? How about this Easter Pasta Nest! Made with linguini from Le Moulin, this nest packs in smoky bacon, broad beans and pistachios, and gets topped with little quail eggs. The flavours really do taste like springtime and it will definitely be a showstopping started or main for Easter.
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200g Le Moulin Linguini
6 quail’s eggs
150g frozen shelled broad beans
2 shallots
1 garlic clove
100g smoked bacon lardons
40g pistachios, chopped
80g parmesan, grated
10g basil
Lemon zest
Dried pepper flakes or crushed red peppercorns, to sprinkle
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Serves 2 – Prep: 30 min
Cook the quail’s eggs for 4 minutes in boiling water. Cool under a running tap, peel and set aside.
Put the broad beans into boiling salted water, bring back to the boil and cook for 2 minutes. Drain and cool under a running tap. Set aside a tablespoon, roughly chop the rest and set aside.
Peel and finely chop the shallots. Peel and crush the garlic.
Cook the linguini in boiling salted water for 6 minutes.
Meanwhile two tablespoons of olive oil in a large frying pan and add the shallot and the bacon lardons. Fry for a few minutes until the shallot is soft and the bacon lardons browned, add the garlic and fry for another minute. Add the chopped broad beans and a cup of pasta water (100ml) and heat through.
Take out another cup of pasta water just before the pasta has finished cooking. Drain the pasta and put in the frying pan with the broad beans. Add the pasta water, pistachios, parmesan, basil, a swirl of olive oil and a good grating of lemon zest. Cook for a couple of minutes until you have a nice sauce. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.
Plate the pasta on two plates, twisting the linguini so that they look like a nest. Place 3 quail’s eggs in the middle, scatter the remaining broad beans around, decorate with a few small basil leaves and sprinkle with some dried pepper flakes or crushed red peppercorns. Drizzle with a glug of olive oil and serve.
