My boyfriend first cooked me this years ago, presumably from a recipe, found somewhere or other, but who knows! Either way, it's remained in the back of my mind, and whenever I happen to stumble across some lovely irony cavolo nero, it's always one that works a treat. Plus it involves two lots of grating and with my most recent unnecessary lockdown purchase being a microplane grater, it's the most exciting dinner to make (but still really quick and easy)! If you can't get hold of any cavolo nero, spring greens, kale, cabbage etc. would all work too, and you could swap in another type of cheese too, if you don't have pecorino to hand.
Serves 2
Ingredients:
150g linguine (or spaghetti)
80g Cavolo Nero
zest and juice of 1/2 lemon (feel free to add more if you like it extra zingy!)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
handful grated pecorino
Method:
- Add the linguine to a pan of boiling salted water, and cook for 10-12 mins or according to pack instructions.
- Meanwhile, prepare your cavolo nero by ripping the tough stalk out the centre, and chopping or ripping the leaves into pieces.
- When the pasta reaches it's last 4 mins of cooking, pop the cavolo nero in for the remainder of the time.
- Drain the pasta and cavolo nero (reserving a cup of cooking water) then return to the pan and add the lemon juice & zest, oil and most of the pecorino. Mix together and add a splash of the cooking water to loosen, then season generously and serve, with remaining pecorino sprinkled on top.
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