It’s that time of year–the CSA season has started and the weekly shares contain greens. What to do with all those greens? One of the long-time CSA members shared a recipe the other day that I just had to try.
It was about 8:15 by the time I made it to the kitchen yesterday evening, and I almost wimped out of cooking to eat something quick and easy, but I forced myself to make this recipe. It can be found at epicurious.com.
INGREDIENTS
- 3/4 pound Swiss chard (preferably red; from 1 bunch)
- 1/2 pound kielbasa, quartered lengthwise, then cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick pieces
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 teaspoon dried hot red-pepper flakes
- 3/4 pound penne
- 1 pound finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (1/2 cup) plus additional for serving
PREPARATION
Cut out center ribs and stems from chard, then thoroughly wash, along with leaves, in several changes of cold water. Cut ribs and stems crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick pieces and coarsely chop leaves.
Cook kielbasa in oil in a 5-quart heavy pot over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a bowl. Cook chard ribs and stems with salt in fat remaining in pot over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add chard leaves, water, and red-pepper flakes and simmer, partially covered, until chard stems are tender, about 5 minutes. Remove lid and stir in kielbasa.
Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente, then reserve 1/2 cup pasta-cooking water and drain pasta in a colander. Add pasta to chard mixture with cheese and salt to taste and toss until combined well. Thin with some of reserved pasta water if necessary.
Of course I didn’t have all the exact ingredients. I have a hard time with sausage–mainly not knowing what’s in it. Nitrates and nitrites–I try to avoid. While perusing the aisles at the local grocery store I found this….
It’s not kielbasa, but it has no nitrates! Also, I didn’t have penne pasta, so I used elbow macaroni (wheat).
I followed the recipe pretty closely, although I didn’t remove the sausage from the pan after sauteeing it–I just added the chopped stems, then garlic, then leaves, then pepper flakes.
At 8:40 I dished up the chard and sausage with pasta.
Oh my gosh!!!! I couldn’t stop eating, and the best part is, there’s enough for another meal!
Wild Things Farm 