Giant quills with courgette sauce and spinach balls

Pennoni giardiniera

By: Antonio Carluccio
From: Pasta
Serves: 4
Photographer: Laura Edwards

I have to include this recipe, because it has become very well known, at least in Carluccio’s restaurants. Some years ago the personnel at the Ealing Carluccio’s asked me if I could create a vegetarian dish with pasta. I went immediately to the kitchen, where I found enough courgettes and spinach to make a dish, matched them with pennoni (large pasta tubes from Puglia), and this is it. It has been on the Carluccio’s menu since then, and each time it is ordered, it collects 50p for charity. It has been so successful that in those eight intervening years it has collected almost a million pounds!

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
300g	dried giant penne pasta, known as pennoni
	salt and pepper, to taste
40g	parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Spinach balls

Quantity	Ingredient
600g	young spinach leaves
2	medium eggs, beaten
1	garlic clove, peeled and crushed
	tip of a knife of freshly grated nutmeg
50g	fresh breadcrumbs
20g	parmesan, freshly grated
	olive oil, for shallow-frying

Sauce

Quantity	Ingredient
4 tablespoons	olive oil
1	garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
1	little fresh red chilli, not too hot, finely chopped
300g	grated courgette

Method

Prepare the spinach balls first by cooking the spinach leaves in salted water for a few minutes. Scoop out and leave to cool down. When cool, squeeze out most of the moisture and chop the leaves with a knife, but not too small. Then mix in a bowl with the eggs, garlic, nutmeg, breadcrumbs and Parmesan. Make some balls the size of a large walnut and shallow-fry in oil until they start to brown on all sides. Set aside.
Cook the pasta in plenty of boiling salted water for 12–15 minutes or until al dente. Drain. (Pennoni are large, so need a longer cooking time.)
Meanwhile, for the sauce, heat the oil in a large saucepan, and add the garlic, chilli and courgette to the pan. Cook quickly in the oil, about 3–4 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Mix the cooked pasta into the sauce, then divide between warmed plates. Sprinkle the top of each portion with Parmesan and place four or five spinach balls on top.