In the middle of an essay on Renaissance art during the reformation (2500 words, due Friday, it’ll be fine…) the fridge has started to look rather bare. So I made this “fridge-ends” pasta rather out of desperation than anything else – it turned out to be stellar. The colour is pastel washed-out summer sun – a minty green sauce, flecked with pink from the bacon on the pale yellow pasta. I’m hoping that brilliance under pressure in the kitchen translates to essay-writing…
Put some water on for the pasta and salt generously. Sauté 1/2 an onion in some olive oil with a pinch of chili flakes until soft, then add a finely diced courgette, four diced rashers of bacon and stir to combine. Add a splosh of white wine, cover and cook over a medium heat until all is tender – the idea is to have it all meld together, rather than the bacon be crispy. While this is happening, cut up a small head of broccoli into large florets, cook it in the boiling pasta water and when it is ultra tender, fish it out with a slotted spoon and chop. Add this to the onion mixture and combine with a splash of milk and a good grating of parmigiano. Put the pasta on (farfalle or long pasta are better for this wet sauce), and cook the sauce, now uncovered, until it just comes together – not too fiercely because you don’t want it to lose that gorgeous fresh colour. Toss in the now al dente pasta and serve with more raw olive oil and more parmigiano.
Right. Back to Holbein.
