Papardelle is one of those lovely large pastas - generous wide strips that won’t look dwarfed by a juicy pork steak - and you do want the pork to be juicy; on a mission to make sure pork is cooked through completely we do often cook it too long, leaving it dry and tough. Ten minutes each side for a chop should be sufficient but do test the juices to be sure they run clear and then rest the meat for a few minutes in a warm place before serving.

Skin tomatoes by placing in a bowl of boiling water for a couple of minutes.

Ingredients - serves 4

4 pork steaks
2 tbsp olive oil
salt, pepper

500g fresh papardelle
4 shallots, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled, crushed and finely chopped
6 tomatoes, skinned and diced
25g butter
175ml white wine
4 tbsp crème fraiche
generous bunch of fresh basil
salt, pepper

Method

Brush the steaks with olive oil, season on both sides with salt and pepper and cook in a large frying pan for about 10 minutes each side over a medium heat. They should be browned and juices run clear when tested. Remove and keep warm.

Add the butter to the frying pan and sauté the chopped shallot and garlic over a low heat to cook without browning (garlic becomes bitter if browned). Add the wine to the pan, raise the heat and reduce to a syrupy consistency and then add the tomatoes. Cook for 2-3 minutes only, you don’t want them reduced to pulp (if you do you may prefer to take the easier route of substituting a can of chopped tomatoes to save on preparation time). Now stir in the crème fraiche, season with salt and pepper and warm through. Add torn basil leaves immediately before serving, reserving some young tips for decorative effect.

Whilst cooking the sauce have a large pan of salted water brought to the boil. Fresh pasta willgenerally take a mere 2 minutes to cook (check packaging) so timing is of the essence. Plunge the pasta in, cook and drain immediately. Divide the pasta between plates, sit a chop / steak beside it and spoon creamy basil sauce over. Top all with a basil tip.