Recipe of the week: Raw & roasted cavolo nero with pistachios and Comté
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Roasting cavolo nero makes it wonderfully crunchy and in this dish by chef Laura Pope it is combined with raw kale that has a Comté, garlic and lemon dressing massaged into it to impart lots of flavour and soften the leaves. The result is both decadent and highly nutritious.
Ingredients (serves four)
400g whole cavolo nero leaves (not ready chopped)
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon aleppo pepper (also known as pul biber) or ½ teaspoon crushed chilli flakes
100g medium aged Comté, finely grated
1 tablespoon apple cider or white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 small garlic clove, finely grated or crushed
30g pistachio kernels
Method
Preheat your oven to 160C fan. Lay the pistachios on a rimmed baking tray and cook them in the middle of the oven for about eight minutes until they smell toasty and are turning golden brown. Remove from the oven, leave to cool and then finely chop them.
Turn your oven up to 195C fan.
Separate the leaves from the stalks of the cavolo nero and discard the stalks. In a large bowl toss half of the leaves with one tablespoon of olive oil, the aleppo pepper, a pinch of salt and a few grinds of black pepper and then spread them on a rimmed baking tray. Roast for about 10 minutes until the leaves are getting crispy (watch carefully so they do not burn).
In the large bowl used for the cavolo nero, combine three quarters of the Comté, the lemon juice, vinegar, garlic and remaining olive oil and season with salt and black pepper. Tear the rest of the raw cavolo nero into large pieces (each leaf in half or third) and massage the dressing in with your hands.
Arrange the raw leaves on a large serving plate or platter and top with the crispy leaves (crunching them and scattering them on top makes for a great range of textures), then sprinkle over the pistachios and the remaining Comté.
