Fam dinner = delicious vat o' pasta

The boys were maniacs this afternoon after camp. Maniacs intensely focused on exposing to each other and me their private areas as.much.as.possible. I finally reached my limit with all things butt-and-penis and sent them to their rooms until dinner. Being that they eat at 4:45p this was not a huge punishment, but still. I got them fed and also started on our meal because T's mom and two of his cousins were to join us. While at the market yesterday, I spied a most gorgeous head of Savoy cabbage. I bought it and ever since have been noodling -hah, no pun intended (see rest of sentence)- on caramelizing it and then tossing that with whole wheat spaghetti. A Food 52 cook I admire posted a recipe for a "suspiciously good cabbage" a year or two ago, and I used that as my jumping-off point this evening.

I fried some bacon, poured off most of the drippings, added in some butter and then slowly cooked down a mess of shallots, the now-shredded cabbage and some garlic. Ultimately, some cream, a generous shower of salt, some pasta water, a rainfall of grated Parm, the now-crumbled bacon,  a handful of finely chopped mint and the zest of one lemon joined forces with the veggies and spaghetti and while wonderful, I felt it needed one last thing. Garlicky breadcrumbs? Yes! A perfect topping. Our fivesome devoured the entire vat of pasta, and I will surely make this again.