Cornucopia pasta with red peppers, chard and chilli oil

This beautiful pasta was made for us in a small shop in Bronte, the next beach on from Bondi. It was made in an old and much-loved pasta machine brought over from Emilia-Romagna in Italy. We served it at Sean's one night with braised pork belly, but mostly we just enjoyed it at home.

1 red pepper
5 stalks of rainbow chard
4tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 clove of garlic
1 small bunch of marjoram
10 little plum tomatoes
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
500g/16oz of cornucopia pasta or pappardelle
60g/21/2oz freshly grated Parmesan
1 small bunch of basil, leaves only

Slice the pepper in half, remove the seeds, and slice into one-inch strips. Wash and pat dry the chard. Place the olive oil into a saucepan over a medium heat. When warm add the pepper, garlic, marjoram and whole little tomatoes; cook, stirring every so often until softened (about 20 minutes). Season with a good pinch of salt and add the chopped chilli and whole chard leaves. Stir well to combine and cook until the chard has wilted – a further 10 minutes or so. Set aside to allow the flavours to marry and deepen while you cook the pasta.

Place a large pot of boiling, well-salted water on to boil. When the water is boiling vigorously, drop in the pasta and cook – if fresh for eight minutes; if dry, follow the instructions on the packet. When soft but still a little firm to the bite, drain, reserving a tablespoon or so of the cooking liquid. Add the pasta to the cooked vegetables and toss through. Tear in the basil and finish with the Parmesan. It will probably still want a good pinch of salt. Serve at once.