Two of the most unassumingly delicious ingredients to cook with this time of year I feel are savoy cabbage and leeks. Both can be found at the GC farmers' market in winter. Here are two variations on a really simple pasta sauce. In terms of the pasta you choose to cook with the sauce, it’s up to you. This week, I made the leek variation with mezze rigatoni and the savoy cabbage version with spaghetti. I always think having a look in the cupboard before running the shop is a good idea. Even a mixture of short pastas that you might have left in small amounts can work really well. 

Serves 1 (multiply by however many you’re cooking for)

Ingredients

80g pasta

25g pancetta, chopped

3tbs creme fraiche (or a couple of glugs of double cream)

Parmesan

For the cabbage variation

1 small onion, chopped

half a small savoy cabbage, thinly sliced

For the leek variation

1 large leek or 2-3 small ones, cut lengthwise and sliced on the diagonal

a few leaves of wild garlic, shredded

Method

Cabbage variation 

Saute the pancetta in a small saucepan with olive oil.

Add the onion and a good bit of pepper. Sweat down at a low heat to develop a good base flavour for the sauce. 

Add the sliced cabbage. 

Add three good tablespoons of creme fraiche. Season with salt (keeping in mind that your pasta water is already seasoned and there will be the addition of parmesan to finish), bring to a boil and immediately to a low simmer. 

Leek variation 

Saute the pancetta in a small saucepan with olive oil.

Add the chopped leeks and wild garlic to the pan and sweat down at a low heat to develop a good base flavour for the sauce.

Add the creme fraiche (you can also use a couple good glugs of double cream instead) season with salt (keeping in mind that your pasta water is already seasoned and there will be the addition of parmesan to finish) and bring to a boil and immediately to a low simmer. 

Cooking the pasta 

Meanwhile, bring a medium pot of water to boil, season well with coarse sea salt, so it’s salty like the sea. Cook pasta according to the time on the package, tasting as it cooks. You will want the pasta to have a bite to it. 

Once pasta is cooked, add directly to sauce without draining and save some of the pasta water. Toss pasta into sauce, add a small amount of pasta water as you go, until the sauce clings to the pasta. You can do so by using tongs if you’re using a long spaghetti type pasta or with a large spoon for a short pasta. If you’re using short pasta, you can also put the lid on the pan and shake it back and forth on the stove to bring the pasta and sauce together. 

Plate and finish with a nice dusting of parmesan. 

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This recipe was kindly written for GC by Adrianna Palazzolo, chef at the River Cafe in London and a big fan of the farmers' market.