STEP 1

Either use fresh plum or cherry tomatoes and roast them before incorporating into a pesto mix, or use sundried tomatoes, in oil in a jar or dried and rehydrated. Using fresh tomatoes can sometimes give a more watery result, unless of course you really reduce your sauce before combining it with the pasta.

STEP 2

By far the quickest method is to use sundried tomatoes in a jar. Don’t be ashamed. I actually think these give the most intense, tomato flavour you can get - so save time and go for ‘maximum flavour with minimum effort,’ as a wise man once said.

STEP 3

To make sundried tomato pesto from scratch, use the ingredients listed above as a guide and then start blending / pestling small quantities of all the ingredients, adding more one a time and always tasting regularly as you do so, until you get to the balance of flavours and the quantity of pesto that you want.

STEP 4

Once you've made the pesto, roast the chorizo whole for 35ish minutes and then chop it into uneven, ‘rustic’ chunks. I dry-fried the pork shoulder in a heavy iron pan with some bay leaves, before removing from the heat, cutting into strips and setting aside.

STEP 5

As the pasta went into the boiling water I returned the pork strips and chorizo to the heavy iron pan on a very high heat. Colouring and crispiness. Freshly ground black pepper. A squeeze of lemon juice.

STEP 6

When the pasta is cooked, put half the total pesto into a prewarmed pan, and loosen it up with some cooking water. Add the pasta to the pesto, off the heat. Toss to combine, adding more pesto and tiny amounts of cooking water if it feels too sticky. Toss to combine pasta and pesto, throw in the pork and chorizo.

STEP 7

Serve sprinkled with hot smoked paprika and

STEP 8

pecorino.