Whole Wheat Pasta with Pork & Courgette

📝 Ingredients

• 160 g whole wheat pasta (penne)
• 250 g minced pork
• 1 courgette (about 250 g)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 150 g fromage frais (0 % fat)
• 40 g grated Emmental
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Large saucepan
• Large frying pan
• Colander
• Bowl
• Spatula
• Chopping board

📖 Steps

1. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Meanwhile, wash the courgette without peeling it, quarter it lengthways, then cut into 1 cm dice. Peel the garlic cloves, remove the green germ if there is one and chop them finely.
2. Heat a large dry frying pan over a high heat. Spread the minced pork in it, leave it to sear for 3 min without touching it, then break it up with the spatula and cook for another 5 min, until well browned with no trace of pink. Remove the excess fat with kitchen paper.
3. As soon as the water boils, add the pasta and cook for the time on the packet (usually 10 to 12 min), stirring during the first minute. Before draining, scoop out a large glass of the cooking water: its starch will bind the sauce.
4. While the pasta cooks, add the diced courgette to the pork and cook for 5 min over a medium-high heat, stirring from time to time: it should brown at the edges and keep a little bite. Add the garlic and thyme, stir for 1 min without letting the garlic brown (it would turn bitter), then season with salt and pepper.
5. In a bowl, mix the fromage frais, grated Emmental and 3 tbsp hot cooking water, then season generously with pepper. The hot water melts some of the cheese and prevents a cold, stodgy sauce.
6. Drain the pasta and tip it into the frying pan with the pork and courgette. Toss for 1 min over a low heat so it soaks up the pan juices, then turn off the heat and take the pan off the hob.
7. Off the heat, add the fromage frais sauce and stir briskly. Add cooking water a spoonful at a time until you have a creamy sauce that coats the pasta. Do not put it back on the heat: the fromage frais would split and go lumpy.
8. Taste, adjust the salt and pepper, then serve straight away on warm plates. Leftovers keep for 2 days in the fridge and can be reheated in a frying pan over a low heat with 2 tbsp water to make the sauce creamy again.