Pasta with Amber Creek cabana, wilted rocket and dried tomatoes.

This meal makes use of scrumptious pork products from Millie and Dan at Amber Creek Farm. We used cabana this time, but bacon or chorizo are equally good.

I do recommend you give handmade pasta a go. It's delicious, cheap as chips to make, involves no packaging, no unknown ingredients and once you have the hang of it, it's very quick.

(Or of course, use purchased pasta!)

Ingredients:

For the sauce

garlic, one clove

minced chilli, to taste (just a hint!)

fresh oregano and thyme, a couple of sprigs

dried tomatoes, a handful

best quality extra virgin olive oil (we always use oil from our stallholders, Andrew and Lyn from Golden Creek Olives

cabana, bacon or chorizo from Amber Creek Farm

pine nuts, two tablespoons

freshly ground black pepper

rocket and flat-leaf parsley

For the pasta

flour, two cups

large free range eggs, two. Fishers Farm Produce

First, make your pasta:

Place flour and two eggs into food processor. Whizz until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs and is just moist enough to hold together when you pinch it together.

This is the tricky part. If it's too moist it will stick to your pasta machine and you'll be angry and upset.

Roll the dough into a ball, wrap in cling wrap and place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes or so.

Cut the ball of dough into 2cm slices, set the machine to the widest setting and run the dough through the machine. Do this with each slice of dough.

Next set the pasta machine to a narrower setting (I go two stops narrower each time). Run your dough through the pasta machine, fold it in half and run it through the machine again. Your dough will become smooth and silky.

Reduce the size of the gap two increments and run the dough through again, folding and rolling a few times as your pasta sheets become thinner and longer. When you reach the second last setting on the pasta machine, cut the pasta into ribbons with the cutting side of your machine.

I use a clothes airing rack with a clean tea-towel on it to keep the pasta until I'm ready to cook it.

This sounds complicated, but in reality, with practice, it takes no more than five minutes. Promise!

Now make the sauce:

Gently fry garlic, cabana, minced chilli, dried tomatoes, fresh oregano and thyme, and pine nuts in the extra virgin olive oil.

To serve:

Bring a large pot of water to the boil and cook the pasta for three minutes. (Or cook purchased pasta according to instructions)

Warm a large ceramic bowl. Place the rocket and flat-leaf parsley in the bowl, drain pasta and pour it into the warmed bowl. Tip half the cabana mix on top of the pasta, drizzle with more extra virgin olive oil and toss all to combine. Add freshly ground black pepper.

Serve into warmed bowls, top with extra cabana mixture and shaved parmesan cheese.