Pasta with Cavalo Nero and Chicken Livers
Recipe for Orecchiette from Puglia with Healthy Italian Cabbage
Sep 12, 2009
Cavalo nero is a delicious dark-leaved cabbage, which features in many Italian dishes. It is packed full of vitamins, so makes a healthy addition to your diet – and has a full-bodied, iron rich, flavour. Unlike other cabbages, however, even the finest stalks remain stringy on cooking, so it is important to strip the leaves off them completely.
Gorgeous Greens
In this dish, from Annie Bell’s new cookery book Gorgeous Greens (pub. Kyle Cathie, £14.99, photographs by Chris Alack; recipe appears here with permission) cavalo nero leaves are teamed with orecchiette, or ‘little ears’, a pasta shape from Puglia. If you can’t find them, then use a chunky pasta shape like conchiglie instead.
Orecchiette with Cavolo Nero and Chicken Livers - Recipe
Ingredients – Serves 4
- approx. 800g cavolo nero
- 300g orecchiette pasta
- 2–3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
- sea salt, black pepper
- a pinch of dried chilli flakes
- 150g freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra to serve
- 300g chicken livers, membranes removed, lobes halved if large
Method
- Strip the leafy parts of the cavolo nero off the stalks, right up to the tips. Slice the leaves across about 2cm thick and wash.
- Bring two large pans of salted water to the boil. Add the cavolo nero to one, cover and simmer for 3 minutes, then drain into a colander and press out any excess water – a potato masher is good for this. Add the orecchiette to the other pan and simmer for 12–14 minutes or according to the packet instructions until just tender. Drain the orecchiette, but not too dry, reserving half a teacup of cooking water, and return the pasta to the saucepan.
- Five minutes before the end of cooking the pasta, heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat, add the garlic and fry briefly until fragrant and just starting to colour, then add the drained cavolo nero, season with salt and the chilli flakes and fry for a couple of minutes, turning occasionally.
- Mix the cavolo nero into the drained pasta. Add the Parmesan, a little seasoning and a drop of the reserved cooking water and heat, turning it now and again, until it appears coated in a creamy emulsion. You can add a little more water if necessary.
- Heat a drop of oil in a clean frying pan over a high heat, add the chicken livers, season and sear briefly each side, leaving them pink and creamy in the centre. Mix them into the pasta and accompany with more Parmesan.
Now try another recipe from Gorgeous Greens: Oven baked roast onion risotto with scallops
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