Ham, Mushroom, Basel and Sundried Tomato in a cream sauce

Pasta is quick an easy. My son says spaghetti should not be over cooked and it should be al dente. Al dente is a fancy term for pasta that's fully cooked, but not overly soft. The phrase is Italian for "to the tooth," which comes from testing the pasta's consistency with your teeth.

But the way that he does it is to take one strand of spaghetti from the pot and throw it agaist the wall at the back of the cooker. If it stays stuck to the wall for a few seconds before it falls down then it is al dente. If it does not stick then it is not fully cooked. It might be a messy way to test... but it works perfectly.

And for the cream sauce. Fry some onion in butter with rock salt and course black pepper, and add cubes of oak smoked ham. Cut in half Sitake mushrooms and for colour add sundried tomatoes and torn basil leaves. Mushrooms shrink considerably if you cook them for a long period of time so put them in at the end together with the cream. When everything is piping hot pour over your pasta. Superb.