As Megan and I have continued our kitchen adventures together as adults we've tried a huge range of pasta dishes, covering all the basics and on to more bizarre and interesting combinations like bean-based sauces. Some of our more interesting concoctions have included a sauceless pasta made with beans and sausage, penne pasta dressed up with watercress and gorgonzola, or spicy pesto chicken pasta.
Today we'll share our latest pasta success: spaghetti with lemon zest and kale. We've been trying out kale quite a bit lately (you may recall our kale chips served with black bean burgers), and we have even more recipes utilizing this leafy green wonder in the future. But for today, we start our pasta by roughly chopping one large bunch of kale.
Drop the kale in a boiling pot of water and let it cook for a few minutes as you would with pasta.
Drain out the water and place the kale in a bowl - but be sure to reserve some of the kale infused water for use later on, as it adds some extra moisture to a pasta that doesn't use a traditional sauce.
Next get your pasta going - we're using standard sphagetti for this one, but you could easily switch to linguine, fettuccine, or even another shaped pasta like penne or farfalle.
Grate off the zest (the yellow "skin") of about three lemons using a small grater. It sounds odd, but the zest actually has quite a bit of the tart lemon flavor without having to actually use the whole lemon.
Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a pan and toss in a handful or two of chopped fresh garlic.
When the garlic becomes fragrant, toss in your kale and lemon zest to cook in the pan.
Drain the cooked pasta and throw it into the skillet along with the rest of the ingredients.
For some added texture and flavor, we're adding in some grated parmesan cheese as well.
Stir it all together until the cheese melts, and then add in a little of the reserved water if necessary to prevent dryness. If the lemon flavor isn't strong enough, juice one of the lemons and add it in a tablespoon or so at a time - be careful not to overdo it though, or you'll go from "mmmm...lemon" to "AUGH! LEMON!"
Serve immediately while the pasta is still hot, and if you want you can stop with some delicious cooked bacon bits (we sure did)!
Extra grated cheese wouldn't hurt either...
Drop the kale in a boiling pot of water and let it cook for a few minutes as you would with pasta.
Drain out the water and place the kale in a bowl - but be sure to reserve some of the kale infused water for use later on, as it adds some extra moisture to a pasta that doesn't use a traditional sauce.
Next get your pasta going - we're using standard sphagetti for this one, but you could easily switch to linguine, fettuccine, or even another shaped pasta like penne or farfalle.
Grate off the zest (the yellow "skin") of about three lemons using a small grater. It sounds odd, but the zest actually has quite a bit of the tart lemon flavor without having to actually use the whole lemon.
Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a pan and toss in a handful or two of chopped fresh garlic.
When the garlic becomes fragrant, toss in your kale and lemon zest to cook in the pan.
Drain the cooked pasta and throw it into the skillet along with the rest of the ingredients.
For some added texture and flavor, we're adding in some grated parmesan cheese as well.
Stir it all together until the cheese melts, and then add in a little of the reserved water if necessary to prevent dryness. If the lemon flavor isn't strong enough, juice one of the lemons and add it in a tablespoon or so at a time - be careful not to overdo it though, or you'll go from "mmmm...lemon" to "AUGH! LEMON!"
Serve immediately while the pasta is still hot, and if you want you can stop with some delicious cooked bacon bits (we sure did)!
Extra grated cheese wouldn't hurt either...
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