Always Eating

Inspired by the Instagram account Mainly Breakfast (who posts gorgeous monthly illustrations about seasonal produce), I’m trying to be more mindful with the ingredients I’m cooking with. Every month, I’m going to choose one or two fruits or vegetables from their illustrations to inspire my cooking and share my recipes on here.

After watching an episode of Dish podcast, hosted by Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett, I decided to go onto the Waitrose website and find a Brussels Sprouts and Chestnut recipe for a pre-Christmas dish. After a little bit of tweaking, I served up this pasta dish for a light dinner before sitting down to watch mum’s favourite Christmas film (The Amazing Mr. Blunden, if you’re interested!). This would be great post-Christmas if you have any Brussels Sprouts left over and not sure what do to with them. Bon appétit!

Sprout and chestnut ‘carbonara’ (original recipe here)

100g smoked bacon lardons

1tsp olive oil

½ white onion, chopped

200g Brussels sprouts, thinly sliced

100g Merchant Gourmet Whole Chestnuts, roughly chopped

150g tagliatelle or linguine

2-3tbsps Philadelphia cream cheese

Salt, pepper, lemon juice and parmesan cheese, to taste

1. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta for the shortest time on the pack instructions.
2. Put the lardons in a large frying pan set over a medium heat.  Cook for 8-10 minutes until crisp and golden, then transfer to a plate with a slotted spoon.  Put the pan back on the heat and add the olive oil, onion, sprouts and a pinch of salt.  Fry for 3 minutes, then add the chestnuts and fry for a further 3 minutes.
3. When the pasta is cooked, use tongs to transfer it into the sprout pan with a little of the cooking water.  Tip in the lardons, then stir in the cream cheese, tossing over a medium-low heat until the pasta is well coated.  Add an extra splash of past cooking water if needed and some lemon juice to cut through the creaminess.  Season with plenty of black pepper and sprinkle over the grated cheese to serve.

Amendments

If you’re not a pork eater, replace the bacon lardons with shredded chicken/turkey.  Add after sprouts and chestnuts have finished cooking.

If you’re a vegetarian, replace the bacon lardons with additional vegetables such as chestnut mushrooms or petit pois.  Add a vegetable stock cube into the pasta water for extra flavour.

If you’re a vegan, find dairy-free alternatives to cream cheese and parmesan.