Beetroot, Goats' Cheese, Hazelnut & Mint Spaghetti

1. Put a kettleful of water on to boil. 
2. Find a large saucepan, big enough for cooking the pasta. Heat the dry saucepan on a medium heat, add the hazelnuts and toast them until brown and fragrant, about five minutes, swirling them around so they brown evenly and don’t burn. Tip onto a board and roughly chop, then set aside.
3. Pour the water from the kettle into the pan, bring back to the boil, add plenty of salt and then the spaghetti. Cook according to the packet instructions.
4. While the spaghetti is cooking, put the beetroot, soft goats’ cheese, mint leaves and some seasoning into a small food-processor and whizz together into a smooth-ish purée. Check and adjust the seasoning accordingly. It needs to be well seasoned. Drain the pasta in a colander (reserving a mugful of its cooking water first) and set aside.
5. Heat the olive oil in the pasta pan and add the beetroot purée, followed by the pasta, plus a tablespoon or so of the reserved pasta water. Mix together well and add a little more pasta water to achieve a looser, or your required, consistency, if necessary.
6. Divide the pasta between four serving bowls, dot with the goats’ cheese log slices broken up into smaller pieces, the chopped hazelnuts, a few mint leaves and a good swirl of olive oil. Serve.

GET AHEAD

Steps 2 and 4 can be completed up to three days in advance. Keep the nuts in a covered dish and transfer the beetroot purée to a bowl, cover and chill.

HINTS & TIPS

The beetroot purée makes a delicious dip for dunking strips of warm flatbreads or vegetable crudités into.