Courgette, anchovy and lemon fettucine

This was OK but not amazing. I might have used too much pasta.

Guardian recipe. 8.5 WW points per serving.

This recipe fits our continuing January criteria of low-effort cooking, while also tasting uplifting enough for this time of year. The courgettes get cooked in the pasta water at the end. Then, after you have drained off the water, you melt the anchovies with garlic in the same pan (one-pot cooking!) and finish it by tossing it all together with lemon zest. A supremely simple supper.

Plenty for two. Takes 25 minutes of extremely relaxed pottering.

Some extra virgin olive oil

250g fettucine (or you can use pappardelle, tagliatelle, or any long, flat pasta)

3 medium courgettes, sliced 1cm thick

30g anchovy fillets, roughly chopped

3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

Sprinkle of chilli flakes

Small knob of butter

Zest of 1 large lemon

Salt and pepper

Heat a large pan of salted water with a splash of the olive oil and, once it has come to a rolling boil, chuck in the pasta, give it a stir and whack a lid on.

Look on the pasta packet to see how long it takes to cook and, when it is four minutes away from being ready, drop in the courgettes and add an extra two minutes to the cooking time. Give it a good stir and stick the lid back on.

When the time is up, drain and put the empty pan back on a medium heat.

Gently fry the chopped anchovies, garlic and chilli in the butter and a healthy glug of olive oil for around three to four minutes until the anchovy pieces start to melt.

Turn off the heat, tip in the pasta and courgettes, along with some seasoning (a little salt and lots of pepper) and the lemon zest.

Toss, stir and give it all a good roll around, breaking up some of the courgette slices as you go, and add another slug of olive oil if you think it could do with it.

Once all the pasta is well coated, give it a last taste (you might want the extra zing of a squeeze of lemon juice), and serve in warm bowls.