Super green pasta with ricotta, lemon and chilli
A burst of freshness and greenness to cut through the rich food of the festivities
I’m sending this to you a day early as I thought it might be more helpful and I also thought that perhaps messaging you all on Christmas Eve was a bit intrusive. So here’s the thing, I love Christmas food, oh my goodness I really do. Give it all to me, and seconds too, leftovers wrapped up in bread for Boxing Day sandwiches, cheese galore, chocolates, mince pies, ham, parsley sauce, turkey, ham, potatoes, bread sauce, turkey. Yes yes yes. And yet. There comes a time. Usually on the evening of the 27th, or perhaps after lunch on the 28th when I begin to yearn for some green. A bit of freshness to cut through the richness. You know what I mean?
This super green pasta with ricotta, lemon and chilli is the perfect antidote. Oh it’s so so good. The sauce is a gorgeous vibrant green which even just visually is a welcome sight in between the beige festive food but it also tastes truly sensational. I love Cavolo Nero, I don’t think it gets nearly enough credit but it’s one of my favourite vegetables. It’s in abundance at this time of year and this is one of my favourite ways to have it.
This is all comes together in the time it takes to cook the pasta so this really is the ultimate fast food. It also uses just a handful of ingredients - 5 main ingredients and all apart from the Cavolo Nero are things you are likely to already have to hand. This is the most satisfying kind of cooking to me, and never more so at this time of year when so much of the cooking requires a lot of preparation and planning. So I welcome and relish the kind of dish that comes together quickly and easily with very little fuss. The Cavolo Nero is plunged into salty boiling water - blitzed with softened garlic and then tossed through the hot pasta. I like adding dollops of ricotta as I adore the sweet, soft, tanginess as a contrast to the deep earthiness of the sauce. Finished off and lifted with some lemon and chilli for added zing. This really is delicious.
Because this is is Dinner Tonight and we are all about ease and speed and very importantly in my book - minimal washing up…because of that I’m going to give you the recipe for this using just one pan but of course you can cook it in the normal way too, I will go through that in the notes. Also as always there’s a downloadable PDF of the recipe for you too.
Serves 2