Orecchiette with Brussels sprouts, brown butter and walnuts

Alexina Anatole
·2-min read
Orecchiette with Brussels sprouts and walnuts
This stunning pasta dish can be on the table in just over half an hour - Yuki Sugiura

Would I normally ask you to individually separate the leaves from Brussels sprouts? No. It’s the sort of job that gets lumped in with podding broad beans for me: basically, I’d rather not. But truly, there is something so visually poetic about the way that the shape of the orecchiette (“little ears”) is mirrored by the leaves of the Brussels sprouts in this dish. It’s a stunner! And beyond the visual appeal there is the flavour, which is knockout and perfect for the autumn/winter season: we’re talking toasty, rich brown butter; salty, umami pecorino; vegetal, subtly bitter Brussels sprouts; further toasty, bitter notes from the walnuts and aniseed freshness from the basil.

Overview

Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Serves

2

Ingredients

  • 60g walnuts

  • 200g Brussels sprouts

  • 150g orecchiette (or another type of pasta)

  • 90g butter

  • 1 garlic clove, slightly crushed with the side of a knife (but kept whole)

  • 20g pecorino (or Parmesan), finely grated

  • squeeze of lemon juice

  • handful of fresh basil leaves

Method

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas mark 4.

Step 2

Toast 60g walnuts on a baking tray in the oven for 10 minutes. Let them cool slightly, then crush roughly using your hands.

Step 3

Trim the bases of 200g Brussels sprouts and then separate them into individual leaves. Put your favourite song on and get in the zone with this task, it’ll be over before you know it! Once you get to the core and it becomes hard to separate individual leaves, set aside and finely slice the cores at the end.

Step 4

Put a pan of well-salted water on to boil for the pasta. Add 150g orecchiette to the boiling water and cook for 1 minute less than the packet instructions, then drain.

Step 5

Meanwhile, melt 90g butter in a frying pan (skillet) over a medium heat. Add 1 crushed garlic clove to help flavour the butter and allow it to start to brown – take it to the point where it smells toasty and looks a deep golden brown (don’t be scared to take this quite far), then remove the garlic clove.

Step 6

Add the Brussels sprouts, briefly pan-frying these for a minute or so with a pinch or two of salt. Reduce the heat to medium-low, then add the drained pasta, the toasted, crushed walnuts, 10g grated pecorino and a squeeze of lemon juice. Toss everything together.

Step 7

Serve immediately, garnished with 10g grated pecorino, a handful of fresh basil leaves and several grindings of black pepper.

Recipe from Bitter by Alexina Anatole (Square Peg, £27)

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