Greens, greens and more greens

Week two brought more spinach, more butter lettuce, more kale, cilantro, and beets. I gave my son some of it, and realized I should start looking for someone to share our share with on a weekly basis. Even with my firm commitment to eating this stuff, there was more here than we could consume. Mostly it’s just two of us eating, and our 18-year-old daughter rarely eats with us.

Never having had kale and knowing there would be a lot of it, I resolved to figure out some ways to eat the stuff. I’ve found that searching the net for recipes is much easier and more productive than perusing cookbooks when you have one particular ingredient you want to use up. I found a recipe using some Kale and Collard Greens that we enjoyed one evening for dinner outside under our covered front porch:

Pasta With Greens

Start your pasta water heating.

Slice the kale/chard/greens about twice the size of matchsticks... it doesn't have to be exact, you could tear it, even.

Then, saute the greens in a mixture of olive oil and butter with chopped onion, garlic (chopped or slivered) and as they cook down, add chopped parsley. (I often add a variety of herbs, though just italian parsley works great.)

If you like the idea, add a couple of diced tomatoes at this point, or some cherry tomatoes halved. Let the saute cook down as the pasta boils... I use either spaghetti or penne, though most any pasta you have will work.

When the pasta is done, toss it with the sauce and grated parmesean or pecorino.

**You can also add a little wine or chicken or vegetable broth about halfway through the saute for additional flavor. Beet greens are also a wonderful addition.

I followed this recipe, adding a little bit of feta cheese flavored with basil and sun-dried tomato on top. It was delicious!