Fusilli tossed through fresh basil pesto with toasted pine nuts and torn bocconcini, finished with lemon zest and a final crack of black pepper. Cool, herbaceous, the kind of bowl that holds up at room temperature for the length of a long lunch.

The pesto is the Genovese blueprint with the proportions a little freer: a half-bunch of basil to two tablespoons of pine nuts and the same of parmesan, blitzed with a hundred millilitres of olive oil and the zest of half a lemon. The lemon brightens the basil and stops it from going dull-green when it sits.

Rinse the pasta under cold water immediately after draining to stop it cooking and seize the colour. Toss the pesto through while the fusilli is still slightly warm so it absorbs the oil; the bocconcini goes in just before serving so it stays soft.

Picnic food that takes itself seriously. Holds for a few hours at room temperature without going limp, which is why it lives in Italian summer lunch repertoires alongside caponata and panzanella. A glass of dry rosé alongside, eaten outdoors.