super green pasta

stringozzi with cavolo nero sauce with parmesan, toasted hazelnuts, and dry red chilli

Serves: 5

Ingredients:

• half of a white onion

• 20 cavolo nero stalks

• 1 garlic clove

• small fresh green chilli

• 40ml extra virgin olive oil

• 110ml double cream

• 20g parmesan and some for serving

• dry red chilli flakes

• 2 swirls of agave syrup

• sea salt

• black pepper

• 470g stringozzi (94g per portion) - round and thick pasta from Umbria

Method:

Hazelnuts:

Toast hazelnuts in a pan over medium heat until golden and fragrant for around 10 minutes. Place hazelnuts in a ziplock bag, close it, and tap them with the end of a wooden spoon or a rolling pin to break them into smaller pieces.

Cavolo nero:

Bring water to a boil for blanching. Separate the leaves from the main stem. Take leaves off their stalks - hold the bottom of the stalk with one hand, and with the other hand push the leafy part up (the stem and stalks are too tough to eat). Wash the leaves and, once the water is ready, blanch the leaves for around 3 minutes.

Green sauce:

Roughly chop onion, green chilli, and garlic. Grate parmesan.

In a medium pan, sauté onion with green chilli until soft for around 10 minutes. Add garlic, season with salt and black pepper, and cook for another 5 minutes. Set aside.

Transfer cavolo nero to a food processor, add sautéed onion, garlic, chilli, and mix. Stir in the double cream, olive oil, agave syrup, and parmesan, and blend until all combined and creamy. Season with salt and black pepper.

Assemble:

Cook pasta in heavily salted water. Once al dente, transfer into a pan and pour the blended cavolo nero sauce, add a splash of pasta water and stir for around 1 minute.

Garnish with toasted hazelnuts, red chilli flakes, and grated parmesan.