thebigfatnoodle

Lemon savoy linguini with bacon and parmesan (serves 3-4)

Ingredients

1 whole lemon, juiced

250 grams savoy cabbage, remove the central stem and cut into 1cm strips or thinner

1 red or white onion, thinly sliced

1 red chilli, remove the seeds if you don’t want the heat

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

200 grams bacon, sliced into 1cm strips

50 grams grated parmesan

½ a buffalo mozzarella, cubed

320 grams of dried linguini / spaghetti / tagliatelli (reserve a ½ cup of the pasta cooking water)

¾ cup of white wine

(Choose a white you’d be happy to drink. Personally, I’m not a fan of chardonnay so never use it in cooking because I don’t like the flavour of oak.)

Salt and black pepper for seasoning

11/2 tablespoon olive oil

Bring a generous pot of water to the boil and add 1 teaspoon of salt and ½ teaspoon of oil to the water. Start heating a deep frying pan or saucepan – whatever you choose, make sure it has a lid.

The linguini I use normally takes about 11 minutes to cook, which is the exact time it takes to cook everything else. As soon as the water’s boiled, I drop in the pasta, give it a stir and begin making the sauce.

In your frying pan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and start sautéing the onions on a medium high heat until they start to brown (approx 2 minutes).

Turn the heat up under your frying pan and add your bacon and fry for another 3-4 minutes (fry them a bit longer if you prefer your bacon crispy).

Add the garlic and chilli and fry for another minute or until the garlic turns golden (approximately 1min).

Add the shredded cabbage, give it a quick stir and put the lid on your saucepan. Allow the cabbage to steam for 1 minute.

Add the white wine, stir and cover the lid again to continue steaming the cabbage (approximately 2 minutes).

Add ½ of the lemon juice to begin with (if your lemon isn’t particularly tangy, use all of the juice), steam again for

another 1-2 minutes)

By this time, your pasta should be cooked but al dente. Take a ½ cup of the cooking water and drain the pasta.

Add the pasta to the sauce and turn down the heat on your stove. Drop in the cubed mozzarella and half the parmesan cheese. Add the cooking water (not all of it if you prefer a drier pasta), a generous grind of black pepper and mix the pasta thoroughly with the sauce and cabbage.

Serve with the remaining grated parmesan and another grind of black pepper.