Pasta with savoy cabbage, bacon, thyme and mozzarella

Jamie Oliver is getting a good airing this week. Love him of hate him, he has some pretty good recipes. This is a recipe I associate with my good friend Karen, she introduced me to this lovely meal, it's one of her favourite family meals. It must be from the only Jamie Oliver book I haven't got which is "The Return of the Naked Chef". My children wouldn't choose to eat savoy cabbage on it's own, but when it's mixed with the bacon and stringy mozzarella and sprinkled with pepper and parmesan it seems to go down a treat. Cook in a large deep frying pan, preferably with a lid.


Ingredients
Serve 4
8 rashers of smoked bacon thinly sliced (or pancetta)
olive oil
1 clove garlic finely chopped
a sprinkling of fresh thyme (I don't think it's essential)
1 large savoy cabbage, quartered, cored and finely sliced (outer leaves removed)
1 handful of grated parmesan
350g dried farfalle pasta
salt and pepper
1 pack of mozzarella diced
2 handfuls of pine nuts toasted


Method
Fry the bacon in olive oil until golden. Add the garlic and thyme and soften. Add the cabbage and cover with a lid, and cook until the cabbage is nice and tender. Add the parmesan cheese. Cook the pasta in salted boiling water. When the cabbage is tender, season and loosen with some nice peppery extra virgin olive oil. Toss in the cooked pasta and at the last minute the mozzarella (let it melt a little) and pine nuts and serve.