Tagliatelle with cavolo nero.

Tagliatelle with cavolo nero | Recipes | Lifestyle | The Independent
Serves 4

1 bunch of cavolo nero
A good pinch of sea salt
40g/11/2oz unsalted butter
2 tbsp grassy flavoured extra-virgin olive oil
3 good-quality anchovies, such as Ortiz
3 cloves of garlic
75g/3oz grated Parmesan

Rinse the cabbage well to remove any dirt. Strip the dark fibrous leaves from their stalks and discard the stalks.
Boil a large pot of well-salted water, plunge in the leaves and cook for five minutes.
Remove and drain.
Separate the cooked cabbage in half.
Place one half in a bowl and the other in a food processor along with the butter, oil, anchovies, garlic and Parmesan and purée until smooth.
Remove and spoon into the bowl, stirring well through the cooked cabbage.
Serve with tagliatelle.

- Cavolo nero pasta recipe - Telegraph
SERVES
4–6
INGREDIENTS
500g/1lb 2oz dried penne
2 garlic cloves, peeled
300g/11oz cavolo nero, leaves stripped off stem
3 tbsp pine nuts, lightly toasted
150ml/5 floz extra virgin olive oil
3 handfuls of grated Parmesan, plus a little extra to serve
METHOD
Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta according to the packet instructions.
Meanwhile, in another large pan, bring some salted water to the boil with the garlic cloves.
When it's boiling, add the cavolo leaves and cook for 5–10 minutes until tender.
Drain, reserving the garlic.
Transfer the cavolo, garlic and pine nuts to a blender or food processor and blitz to a fine purée.
Add the olive oil and Parmesan, then blitz again and season to taste.
You should have a glossy and rich dark green sauce.
Drain the pasta, reserving a cup of the cooking water.
Toss the sauce through the pasta, loosening it with a little cooking water so the sauce clings to the pasta.
Finish with another drizzle of olive oil and a dusting of Parmesan.

- Recipe of the Week: Pappardelle With Cavolo Nero

Minestrone With Borlotti Beans.

- Recipe of the Week: Minestrone With Cannellini Beans | Theo Randall





Serves 6
2 tbsp olive oil
3 celery sticks, finely chopped
1 red onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 garlic clove, finely sliced
1 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
300g cavolo nero
1 x 400g tin borlotti beans, drained and rinsed
1 small bunch basil leaves
Salt and pepper

- In a hot heavy based saucepan add the olive oil and the chopped celery carrot onion garlic.
Cook on a low heat 20 min until they are soft.
Add the tomatoes and cook for a further 20 min.

- Separate the leaves of the cavolo nero and the stalks.
In a pot of boiling salted water cook the cavolo nero leaves 3 min - until they are tender .
Drain and keep the cooking water.
Chop any large leaves into bite-size pieces.

Finely chop the stalks and bring to a gentle simmer 3 min and check the seasoning.
Drain and keep the cooking water.

- Add the borlotti beans to the tomato mixture and cook further 10 min.
Add three cups of the cavolo nero cooking water.
Bring to a gentle simmer for 5 min.

- Add the cavolo nero and the stalks with basil.
Check the seasoning and serve.

Nigel Slater's classic ribollita.

Nigel Slater's classic ribollita | Life and style | The Guardian
Ribollita - which means 'boiled twice'.
Literally "re-boiled", this sustaining, ancient recipe is the very essence of kitchen economy – a big fat soup substantial enough to be a main course.

THE RECIPE
Leave 2 peeled onions,
2 carrots,
3 peeled cloves of garlic and
3 ribs of celery, all roughly chopped, to cook for 20 minutes in a couple of tbsp of olive oil in a deep pan.
When they are soft, stir in a 400g can of chopped tomatoes, and
250g cooked cannellini beans with
250ml of their cooking water and a couple of bay leaves.
Leave to simmer over a low to moderate heat for 30 minutes.
Tear up 4 thick slices of bread and dunk them into the soup.
Chop four large handfuls of cavolo nero or other kale and stir it in.
Season and continue to simmer for 15-20 minutes until you have a thickish soup, adding more bean water if you need to.
Serve in bowls with a trickle of olive oil on each.

THE TRICK
A night in the fridge will encourage the flavours to marry.
Keep the pieces of vegetable quite small – the soup should be thick, but not a chunky stew.
Use a firm white loaf, torn into rough chunks.

THE TWIST
Cavolo nero is pretty much a given if you are adding greens to your ribollita, but spring greens and Savoy cabbage also make fine alternatives to the finished soup.
Some cooks add cubed potatoes, courgettes, diced prosciutto, leeks, thyme leaves, fennel seeds and crushed dried chillies.
I like to pour in a spoon of lemon oil too at the last minute to brighten up the flavours.

Note: Substitute for Cannellini Beans (large white Italian kidney beans ): - Great Northern or white (navy) beans or flageolets.

Lo-Lo Meatballs with Cavolo Nero.

Calorie count: 264
Lo-lo, because much of the saturated fat you’d usually find in a typical Italian mamma meatball has been stripped out by swapping to a leaner meat and eliminating all but the merest flash of oil.
Serves 2
264 cal per person
Ingredients
For the meatballs
200g lean pork mince or turkey mince (I used turkey mince)
half a med red onion (chopped)
1 garlic clove (peeled and crushed) (I used a little bit of pre-minced garlic for speed)
1 small carrot (grated)
pinch of oregano
1 egg (beaten)
salt and pepper
oil for spraying (you can make up your own spray bottle of oil, or buy one of the spray cans)