Pasta for a Meh Monday!

 

Post long weekend got you feeling slow and sluggish?

In need of a dinner that knows how you’re feeling but also knows that you’re hungry and want something substantial and nourishing?

This week we have an earthy and elegant dish for you with some usual suspects from the winter pantry, when combined together, create maximum oomph with total ease!

This is not only ideal for mid-week but also dinner parties as it most certainly is worthy of a bottle of red wine!

Caramelized Creamy Leek Pasta

Serves 4

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 40 minutes

 
 

Ingredients

Pasta, 200g dried or 300g fresh (I used orecchiette)

3 tbsp butter, divided

1 large leek

1 onion, sliced

3 - 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

¾ cup cream

60g parmesan, finely grated

½ tsp black pepper

½ tsp flaky sea salt

1 ½ tbsp lemon juice

½ tbsp fresh rosemary leaves

METHOD

  1. Melt 2 tbsp butter in a frying pan over medium heat and add the sliced leek and onion. Toss then turn the heat down to pretty much the lowest heat and cook for 25 - 30 minutes until lightly caramelized. You want the heat to be low enough that it doesn't catch, you'll need to stir every few minutes.

  2. Remove from the pan and set aside. Don't clean the pan!

  3. Get your pasta cooking in a pot of well salted boiling water.

  4. When your pasta only has 4 minutes or so to go, start the sauce. Return the frying pan to a medium heat and melt 1 tbsp butter. Add the garlic and sizzle for 30 seconds.

  5. Turn down the heat and add the cream, bring to a gentle simmer. Use a spoon or ideally a flat whisk to get any brown bits stuck from the onion mixed in.

  6. Add the lemon juice, salt and pepper.

  7. Add the parmesan in two or three lots, letting it melt into the cream before adding the next lot.

  8. Add in your cooked pasta and toss.

  9. Add the leek and onion mixture plus the rosemary and toss.

  10. Let it gently bubble away for a minute or two until the sauce thickens slightly. Add a splash of pasta water to thin if needed.

  11. Serve across 4 bowls

Tom’s Basic Pasta Rule

  • The more swirls, twirls, ridges, twists, holes and tubes a pasta has, the chunkier and thicker the sauce that goes with it should be.

  • Smooth, long, thin ribbons of spaghetti or linguine, on the other hand, require a simple, light sauce of grated cheese and cream, or an oil-based sauce such as vongole.

  • Tubular penne, corkscrew-shaped fusilli, wavy reginette, shell-like conchiglie and twisted casarecce, meanwhile, love to act as vessels, scooping up in their nooks and crannies as they travel from plate to mouth.

 
THOMAS NEWFIELD