Dark, Stormy Nights Call For This Level of Comfort
In the depths of this dark, bleak and dreary January, I wanted to create a recipe for this week’s Six O Clock Show that was full of deliciousness, warmth, comfort and flavour. As you know at this stage, my philosophy on food is all about simple culinary techniques but maximum flavour.
Flavour can be imparted into a dish in several ways, but predominantly for this dish, it is through developing and bringing out the natural flavours of each individual ingredient and then pairing up these ingredients so that all the components of the recipe work in harmony together. The flavours just melt into each other and enhance each other and the entire dish.
Based on all the social media love this recipe has gotten, it might be one of my MOST POPULAR dishes ever to date! I am so excited about that. Genuinely. Will I tell you why? There is a genuine seismic shift in how we eat. I would not have gotten that response two years ago on the show.
A big batch of chocolate brownies smothered in salted caramel sauce may have had but not this. We are looking for delicious, creative, straightforward ways to eat better for ourselves. For our wellness.
This dish is pasta with ricotta which, as I spoke about on the show, had 7g of saturated fat per 100g versus a typical cream sauce with 38g of saturated fat per 100g. It has kale but is cooked in the most delicious way to be vibrant, tender, and not overpowering. It has bijoux green lentils from a tin, so they are super convenient and a great way of getting a plant-based source of protein into your beautiful big bowl of delicious silky pasta. There is also butter, just FYI.
This dish is the epitome of how I cook. I am honoured to see so many of you also want to cook like this. This recipe is based on wholesome ingredients. We are gradually bringing new foods like lentils and kale into our weekly repertoire, using local Irish produce like goat’s cheese, and then being brave enough to use an inexpensive, plant-based ingredient like the humble onion as the star of the show. The number of requests for this recipe was unreal.
Now, sorry, what was I saying about the onions there… of yes… low and slow…. low and low…. 38 minutes is the perfect time for about 500g of onions in this recipe to get them jammy, sticky and beautifully caramelised. Perfection.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Caramelised Onion, Kale & Goats Cheese Pappardelle with a Herby Gremolata Crumb
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Ingredients
- 250 g Italian pappardelle
- 500 g 3 big brown onions
- 50 g butter
- 50 g oil
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 125 g goats cheese
- 125 g ricotta
- 2 tbsp cream
- 75 g kale cooked / 150g raw
- 100 g puy lentils / lentils vert
- 30 g parmesan
- Salt and pepper
- Stockpot/stock cube
Gremolata
- 150 g brioche
- 20 g Parmesan
- Zest half lemon
- Big handful combined of fresh parsley chives, rosemary
Instructions
Method
- Cut the onions in half lengthways. Peel them and thinly slice them.
- Melt the oil and butter over medium heat and cook the onions slowly for about 30-40 minutes until caramelised, velvety, sweet and jammy. As the onions cook prepare the rest of the ingredients.
- Kale: Remove the leaves from the stalk. Tear into chunks. Boil in salted water for 2/3 minutes until tender but not like mush. Remove immediately and refresh by plunging it into ice-cold water. Allow the cooking to stop and the kale to cool down. Pat it dry and then finely shred it.
- Open and drain the lentils if using tinned or else boil dried lentils in stock until tender then drain.
- Gremolata: Blitz up the brioche bread with lemon zest, herbs and parmesan. Add a twist of black pepper and salt.
- When the onions are cooked, remove them from the heat. Boil up the water for pasta. Add plenty of sea salt. Cook for 3 minutes ( or according to the packet instructions. Drain and keep a mug of pasta water.
- Add the pasta to the onions, and toss in the kale, lentils and goat's cheese. Place the pan on medium heat and melt in the goat's cheese, ricotta and cream to loosen it stir until it is all combined and then add the pasta water as needed for that silky texture.
- Spoon into warm pasta bowls and garnish with a sprinkling of the toasty gremolata.
