So, sprouts in pasta. Yay or nay? Surprisingly, it’s a definite yay for us. Even our youngest who isn’t a huge sprouts fan. It’s a great comfort food and very quick, easy and popular in our home. Read through the menu first to decide on your options. Just remember it’s raw egg and treat accordingly. Let me know what you think.
Brussels Carbonara
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp coarse salt
- 230g dry spaghetti, linguine or fettuccine, whole wheat if desired
- Olive oil for frying
- 230g Brussels sprouts, trimmed
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 medium onion
- 3 medium eggs, room temperature
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 100ml cream (optional)
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste at table
Method
- Place pasta in a suitable pan. Pour over boiling water, add salt, cook as per instructions.
- While the pasta is cooking. prep the sprouts. Trim ends, remove yucky leaves, finely chop. Peel and chop the garlic and onion. Fry onions and garlic til soft. Add the finely chopped sprouts. Fry on high heat.
- Prep sauce. Lightly whisk the eggs, add parmesan and cream. (The cream is optional, you can use some saved pasta water, cream cheese or creme fraiche). If the sauce is too thick, thin it with the pasta water.
- Add the sauce to the cooked pasta, stir well over a gentle heat. Add fried veg. Mix well.
- Serve on warm plates.
- The measurements are all very flexible. This serves 3. I have made this recipe many times and have never measured anything. I just eyeball the ingredients and times it per person. The ingredients are also very flexible. Chop and fry bacon with the sprouts, red chilli flakes are lovely as is shredded cooked chicken fried with sprouts and onion. Of course, you can omit the sprouts altogether and stick with the onions and garlic.
Recipe: M Campbell
Photograph: M Campbell