Introduction This dish is all about colour, flavour and textural contrasts. We've opted for dried fusilli pasta, as its corkscrew shape with plenty of twists and grooves makes it one of the very best shapes to pair with pesto.
You could use fresh fusilli if you wanted to, but you won't be able to achieve the al dente texture, which we think is so important with this dish.
Pro tip If we have the time, rather than just fry the bacon, we like to glaze the rashers with maple syrup and place them in a low-temperature oven. This dehydrates the rashers, concentrates their flavour, and ensures they shatter when you snap them.
Fry the bacon until crispy, break the rashers into thin strips and set aside.
Bring a pan of salted water to a boil and add the pasta, stirring for the first few minutes to ensure the shapes don't stick to each other.
While the pasta is cooking, remove the florets from the broccoli and steam until tender. Chop the tomatoes in half and set aside.
When the pasta is perfectly al dente, drain, reserving a couple of tablespoons of the starchy water it cooked in. Combine the pesto, pasta and water and stir through the bacon, broccoli florets and tomatoes.
Serve whilst still piping hot and garnish with thin shavings of well-aged Parmesan.
