I’m constantly on the lookout for quick weeknight meals that feel restaurant-quality—it should make a Tuesday feel special without creating a gigantic mess in the kitchen or taking up all of my precious free time.
Enter Joshua McFadden and Martha Holmberg’s instant classic, “Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables.” While there are plenty of excellent recipes packed into this cookbook, the one I keep going back to again and again is the “Kale Sauce with Any Noodle.”
I made tweaks here and there to suit my tastes—adding more garlic, reducing the cheese, using different leafy greens and pasta shapes, and adding lemon and red pepper flakes until I got it just right. It’s garlicky, salty from the Parmesan, and bright from the lemon. It’s crowd pleasing enough for the whole family.
Use the Greens You Have
While McFadden calls for kale, my favorite green to use for this pasta is Swiss chard. It’s easy to prep, cooks quickly, and blends into a super smooth, deep green sauce. But this sauce will work with any winter greens, like lacinato or curly kale, spinach, collard greens, or a mixture of any of these. In fact, it’s an excellent way to use up random greens from a CSA box.
When using chard, I recommend the white or yellow-stemmed leaves. Red-stemmed chard works fine, but it lends the dish a muddy color. If you use spinach, larger more mature varieties work better than baby spinach.
Break Out the Fun Pasta Shapes
Any pasta shape will work here. My preference is for fat, fun shapes like rigatoni, but the smooth texture of the sauce works with many shapes like orecchiette, pappardelle, and spaghetti. It’s also a fun choice for gnocchi or even cheese ravioli.
Since this is a simple dish, I suggest choosing quality pasta and cooking it al dente since the texture will make a noticeable difference.
Recipe Variations
This vegetarian pasta is easy to customize:
- Vegan: Swap the Parmesan cheese for a couple of tablespoons of nutritional yeast.
- Gluten-free: Swap for your favorite gluten-free pasta.
- More lemon: Add a little more flavor and lots of lemon aroma by adding up to 1/2 teaspoon of freshly grated lemon zest to the sauce.
- Add herbs: Add a large handful of fresh basil or parsley leaves to the blender. It’ll contribute fresh flavor and even more bright green color.
- Extra creamy: Add a splash or two of heavy cream when tossing together the pasta and sauce.
- Extra cheesy: Add a large spoonful of ricotta and stir it in with the sauce.
More Quick-Cooking Pasta Recipes
#5Ingredient #Pasta #Winter #Greens #Recipe
