Cabbage & Lardon Pasta

📝 Ingredients

• 320 g dried pasta (macaroni, penne or fusilli)
• ½ white cabbage (about 600 g)
• 1 brown onion (about 100 g)
• 300 g turkey lardons
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 80 g grated Emmental
• 150 ml pasta cooking water (set aside before draining)
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Large saucepan
• Sauté pan or large frying pan with a lid
• Chopping board
• Chef's knife
• Colander
• Wooden spoon

📖 Steps

1. Remove any damaged outer leaves from the half cabbage and cut out the tough core. Slice the cabbage into thin strips of about 5 mm. Peel and slice the onion, peel and finely chop the garlic.
2. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil (about 3 litres). Meanwhile, heat the oil in a sauté pan over a medium heat and brown the lardons for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring, until slightly crisp.
3. Add the onion and garlic to the pan and cook for 2 minutes, stirring, until the onion turns translucent. Don't let the garlic brown: it would turn bitter.
4. Add the cabbage and thyme, season lightly with salt and stir. Cover and leave to soften for 10 minutes over a medium-low heat, stirring every 2 to 3 minutes. If it starts to stick, add 2 tbsp hot water from the pasta pan. The cabbage should be tender and golden in places.
5. While the cabbage softens, add the pasta to the boiling water and cook for 1 minute less than the packet instructions. Just before draining, scoop out 150 ml of cooking water with a mug and set aside.
6. Drain the pasta and tip it into the pan with the cabbage. Add half the cooking water and stir for 1 minute over a low heat: the pasta finishes cooking while soaking up the flavour of the lardons and cabbage.
7. Take the pan off the heat, scatter over the Emmental and stir vigorously, adding the rest of the cooking water a little at a time, until the cheese melts into a sauce that coats the pasta instead of forming stringy clumps.
8. Taste, season generously with pepper and add salt only if needed, as the lardons and Emmental are already salty. Serve immediately, piping hot, in shallow bowls.