Healthy & Delicious Cavolo Nero Pasta

A few months ago Vlad and I watched one of Jamie Oliver’s 15 minutes’ easy meals and he was making this delicious yet simple Cavolo Nero pasta. Before that, I’ve never heard of Cavolo Nero. I’m not a fan of cabbage, hence I thought I wouldn’t enjoy it. However, Vlad and I decided to give it a go while putting our own twist on the whole recipe. While Jamie Oliver’s recipe is undoubtedly the original one, I tend to find his cooking methods to be a bit too fattening to my taste. This recipe is perfectly delicious and tasty without the 30 grams of ricotta cheese. While the ricotta is adding protein, it’s also adding a lot of fat which I don’t want as you might know I’m a bit a fitness fanatic.

There’s good and bad fat, and I don’t find ricotta to fall into the second chart. Instead of ricotta, we’ve added 2 light cheese triangles to get that taste and consistency right. Except for the 30 grams of parmesan, we haven’t included anything else that’s oily or fatty. Of course, it’s up to you whether or not you want to make your Cavolo Nero pasta healthier. The other twist we did is to add more garlic cloves as we love garlic. Jamie Oliver’s recipe includes only 4 garlic cloves, whereas we’ve put 7! Personally, I don’t think there could be ‘too much garlic’ but if you’re not a fan just stick to the original recipe. We all know you’re secretly a vampire, hence don’t eat garlic!

Apart from that, we’ve pretty much stuck to the original recipe. There’s a link in the first paragraph if you want to do Jamie’s version. However, if you want our healthier version, which FYI is 300 calories less per portion, stick to the ingredients and cooking instructions below.

Ingredients:

200g Cavolo Nero
130g Pasta
7 Garlic Cloves
30g Parmesan Cheese
2 Light Cheese Triangles
Salt
Pepper

Instructions:

Wash and clean the Cavolo Nero. Dry and remove the leafy parts, then boil them for 5 minutes.
Cook pasta according to instructions. I prefer mine overcooked and mushy. Somewhere in the world an Italian just had a heart attack.
Clean the garlic cloves and add to boil with the Cavolo Nero.
After 5 to 10 min remove the Cavolo Nero with the garlic cloves, add the parmesan and cheese triangles.
Mix everything together until smooth.
Add salt and pepper to your taste.
Add the cooked pasta to the whole mix and combine.
Sprinkle some parmesan on top.
Enjoy!

I was very sceptical at first. I really thought the Cavolo Nero wouldn’t be tasty, especially after it ruined our kitchen! Stupidly, I did the huge mistake of mixing it in a bowl and it went everywhere! There were green bits all over the kitchen counter and every single corner! Even though we’ve cleaned the kitchen at least 10 times since then, I wouldn’t be surprised if we find a sneaky green spot somewhere in a corner or on the cupboards! Just beware, you’ve been warned! Apart from that, it turned out that I LOVE CAVOLO NERO! It tastes nothing like cabbage! I think it would fall more into the broccoli section but leafier version. Actually, next time I think I might try this recipe with broccoli and see how it goes.

So, there you have it! Our own twist on Jamie Oliver’s Cavolo Nero pasta! Let me know if you decide to make this delicious recipe!

P.S: Don’t forget to watch the video!

x Mariya

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN6q54IGe9I

Image Credit: Jamie Oliver