Crystelle's 'nduja and kale pasta

Ingredients

Crispy kale:

Pasta:

Method:

1. First, prepare the crispy kale. Preheat your oven to 160C Fan.

2. Rip your kale into bitesize pieces, and remove any thick stems. Place on a large roasting tray and cover in 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp garlic powder, ½ tps salt and pepper, and use your hands to coat the kale in the oil and seasonings well. Place this in the oven for 25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway. Remove and set aside.

3. Next, prepare the pasta. Boil 250g rigatoni in heavily salted water per packet instructions, but a few minutes before it reaches al dente (about 6 minutes).

4. Whilst the pasta is boiling, add 85g 'nduja to a large frying pan and place this on a medium/low heat. Fry this for a couple of minutes until sizzling and has turned into a more liquid paste. Then, add 1 tbsp olive oil and 3 crushed cloves of garlic, and fry this on a very low heat for 5 minutes until the garlic is fragrant.

5. Remove one cup of the starchy pasta water, and add half of this to the 'nduja to loosen. Then, add in 4 tbsp mascarpone, mixing this well to combine.

6. Add the pasta directly from the pan into the sauce, and give this a really good toss to make sure the pasta is well coated in the sauce. Then, add the zest of half a lemon, juice of ¼ lemon, 20g parmesan and more pasta water to loosen the sauce.

7. Turn off the heat, and add the black pepper and half of the crispy kale. Give this a final mix. Serve with the leftover crispy kale on the top and enjoy.