A wintery pasta for one. In just 10 minutes you can sit down to this seasonal supper, perfect for unwinding after a long day. And while the instructions at first glance may appear convoluted, you’re really just alternating between two pans for 10 minutes until they amalgamate into one gleaming pasta dish. Much more relaxing to cook than to read, I assure you.
Feeds 1
Ingredients
75g linguine
Half a small bunch of cavolo nero (approx. 125g)
1 – 2 rashers of smoked bacon, sliced
1 tsp olive oil
Pinch dried chilli flakes
1 clove of garlic
Freshly ground black pepper
Small handful of grated parmesan
Method:
Bring a small pot of water to the boil and salt generously. Drop in the pasta.
Place a frying pan over medium heat. Add the chopped bacon and olive oil and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp.
While the bacon is crisping and the pasta is boiling, remove the stems from the cavolo nero. Do this by flipping over the leaf and cutting the stem out from the back. Cut the de-stemmed cavolo nero in half to give you two long strips. Repeat with the remaining leaves.
When the pasta has had a few minutes’ cooking, drop in the cavolo nero. Let boil until the pasta has finished cooking and the cavolo nero is tender.
Once the bacon has crisped, use a garlic press to squeeze in the garlic. Add the chilli flakes. Cook for a minute. You may now need to turn off the heat under the bacon pan until the pasta and cavolo nero are finished cooking to avoid burning the garlic – pop the bacon pan back on the heat before proceeding with the next step.
Just before draining the pasta and cavolo nero, use a mug to collect a little of the pasta water. Drain the pasta and cavolo nero, then immediately add to the bacon pan with a splash of the pasta water, a grating of parmesan cheese and a good grinding of pepper.
Twist the tangles of pasta around a pair of tongs and place in a shallow bowl. Grate over a little extra parmesan to serve.
Caroline Feeds 