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Creamy Pasta with Kale, Mushrooms, and Garlic Scapes

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I’m feeling a little overwhelmed by the amount of food we’re receiving through our CSA each week. To my great surprise, it’s been a struggle to work our way through everything.

Creamy pasta with kale, mushrooms, and garlic scapes5

I wish I could say that we’re able to survive solely off the ingredients in our box, but I’m still making multiple trips to the store to pick up proteins, fruit, and random odds and ends to help complete dishes. 

I know it’s a process, but my goal is to transition away from supplementing quite as much from the store and to rely more on creating simple meals with what we’re given. And if that means eating a few more vegetarian meals each week, well, I call that a win!

Mushrooms

My other complaint is that sometimes I just don’t want to eat what’s in the box. For instance, we celebrated 4th of July on Saturday, a holiday which screams for the grill to be used. While I was able to make good use of our weekly allotted zucchini and yellow squash (nothing better than grilled veggies, am I right?), all we really wanted to go alongside these were traditional burgers and corn on the cob. So that’s what we did, and it was fabulous, but… we ended up making two meals for our family, and now I’m looking at an excess of unallocated veggies (collard greens, I’m looking at you) that I need to somehow squeeze into our remaining meals for the week.

Let me tell you, the guilt that accompanies sad, left behind veggies from a CSA box is real.

Mushrooms, onions, scapes

My point is this: participating in and eating your way through a CSA share is a balancing act. One that I haven’t quite gotten the hang of yet. We’ve got four more months to figure this out, so if you’ve got any tips I’d love to hear ‘em.

Kale

In the meantime, pasta dishes are my saving grace. Not quite a one pot dish (gotta cook the pasta separately), but being able to throw everything else together makes for an easy weeknight meal, and one that can help marry a number of ingredients.

Creamy pasta with kale, mushrooms, and garlic scapes3

I’m a sucker for creamy pastas, and this was no exception. This is also a great way to introduce kale to a family of skeptics. The earthy mushrooms, salty pancetta, and creaminess of this dish help hide the fact that you’re also eating kale. Of course I realize that most people don’t want to hide what they’re eating, but let’s just say this is a friendly way to bring an unfamiliar (or undesirable) green into your meal rotation. If I were to make this again, I think sun dried tomatoes would be an amazing addition.

Sad to say my almost three year old wouldn’t touch this. “No pasta, no pasta! No spinach!” — even after I explained that it wasn’t spinach (which he’ll eat raw in salads, by the way, ugh). My 18 month old, however, went to town with only minor choking incidents on the mushroom and kale. Victory!

Creamy Pasta with Kale, Mushrooms, and Garlic Scapes

Ingredients

  • 6 thin slices of pancetta (or a small package of diced pancetta)
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 lb pasta, any small shape
  • 1 package cremini or white mushrooms, chopped
  • 1 small red onion, chopped
  • ¼ cup garlic scapes, chopped (or 1 garlic clove)
  • 1 bunch kale, washed and chopped
  • ¾ cup whipping cream
  • Pinch of chili flakes
  • Salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • ½ cup reserved pasta cooking water
  • ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese for serving

Instructions

  1. Bring a large pot of water to boil for the pasta. Cut the pancetta into bite size pieces. In a large, deep sauté pan, fry the pancetta in the olive oil on a medium low heat until crispy.
  2. When the water is boiling, salt the water well and add the pasta. Cook according to package instructions. Before draining the pasta, take about a cup of the pasta water out with a measuring cup.
  3. Slice the thick spine off the kale by folding the leaf in half along the spine to expose it and slice down. Stack several leaves together and roll the leaves up into a short, fat cigar to chiffonade it. To create shorter pieces that are easier to eat you can also slice the rolled up leaves in half lengthwise and then chop the two halves into strips.
  4. When the pancetta is crispy turn up the heat to medium and add the mushrooms, red onion, and garlic scapes. Let the scapes cook for 5 minutes. Add a splash more olive oil if needed to get the mushrooms coated so they fry nicely. Season with salt and pepper.
  5. When the mushrooms have cooked down add the kale. Stir until wilted, about 2 minutes.
  6. Season with salt and pepper, then add chili flakes and cream. Stir to combine. Let simmer for another minute and then turn off the heat.
  7. Add pasta to the pan with the kale, mushrooms and sauce. Stir until coated, then add some of the pasta water ¼ cup at a time until you get the desired consistency of the sauce. Serve with a generous amount of freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
http://www.tastyretreat.com/2015/07/creamy-pasta-with-kale-mushrooms-and-garlic-scapes/

*Recipe adapted from Strawberries for Supper.


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