An easy recipe with simple, genuine ingredients that should, however, be prepared in the right season and its ingredients chosen carefully: it will conquer even the most refined palates.
In a heavy-bottomed frying pan, sauté the cloves of garlic “in camicia”, unpeeled and simply squashed with the palm of your hand, and the chilli pepper (if you don’t want the dish to be too hot, remove the seeds beforehand) in the olive oil. When the garlic is nice and golden, remove it. Now put the cleaned and sliced artichokes straight into the pan. Stir well with a wooden spoon and season with salt and pepper; then add a little hot water (about ½ a glass) so they don’t dry out too much as they cook.
Cook the penne until they are “all dente”; strain them and set aside some of the water they were cooked in. Tip the pasta into the frying pan and toss it with the artichokes. Add a ladle of the pasta water, stir everything together and distribute the mint leaves, torn up by hand, here and there. Turn off the heat and grate plenty of aged pecorino cheese on top of the penne. Stir again carefully, then take the frying pan to the table “decorated” with a few scales of pecorino and 3 mint leaves, and serve the penne immediately, nice and hot.