Surprise, surprise! Kale.
There really isn't something grand about looking down at your plate or bowl and seeing this much green, isn't there?
This is the ideal throw together pasta. This would work with chicken, with rice pasta, without bacon, with more vegetables. I'm learning that as long as I have a can of diced tomatoes around, I can throw together anything.
My friend was coming over for dinner and neither of us wanted to purchase any new food. What we had to work with? A few mushrooms, a ton of leftover kale, garlic, diced tomatoes, parsley, pasta, a fresh tomato....and in this particular case, bacon.
So there it was. A meal was born.
Approximately what we used and what we did:
Spaghetti (would be delicious with rice pasta or spinach pasta!)
Can of diced tomatoes (we used the small cut ones that were already mixed with onions and green peppers)
Mushrooms - diced, about a 1/3 of a cup
Kale - washed and ripped from stem...about 2 1/2 cups
3 cloves of garlic, minced
6 pieces of bacon
Parsley and fresh tomato for topping
Once bacon is cooked, remove from pan (remove most of the fat). Cut bacon into pieces and throw it back in the pan along with the garlic. Fry for a minute.
Throw in the mushrooms and kale. Mix everything around until the kale begins to wilt. Add in the can of diced tomatoes (including all of the juice!). Let it all do it's thing until the pasta is done. No specified amount of time because the things that need to be cooked, are, and the rest is just as good raw! It's really up to you. We simply timed it with our pasta.
We divided the pasta into 3 bowls, topped each bowl with 1/3 of the mixture. We, then, topped each bowl with fresh parsley and tomato. Voila.
I'll add this to the Go-To list because it will work with a million variations. I'lm also adding a gluten-free and vegetarian tag to this...but this exact recipe clearly doesn't work.
What have you been eating? Anyone else have a go-to throw together pasta that they never think to share?
This is my favourite thing about pasta - and throw-together dinners in general... a few key ingredients and you have an incredible meal! My throw-together pastas always include a mixture of fresh and canned tomatoes, too, as well as onions, basil, garlic, bay leaves and ground pepper. Sometimes I add a tiny bit of butter to the sauce, too. Fresh, simple, and flavourful. Yum!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment @Aimee! I know. I love pasta. And throw together pasta.
ReplyDeleteI particularly love Becel PInk, garlic, basil & a dash of lemon when I'm throwing things together! Jon made a yummy mac n' cheese for me the other day with Daiya, Basil, Lemon & "Butter". mmm...
Hi, new reader directed to your blog via Roshika. I am 90% gluten free. My go to pasta is rice pasta with just salt, butter and shredded fresh parm on it, with diced fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach or any other leafy green and always with green onion as a garnish. I add chicken or fresh sausage if I feel like it. I don't actually like my pasta with heavy sauces most of the time.
ReplyDelete@mrsmaynard: Thanks for the comment and welcome! Yay to a new reader :)
ReplyDeleteI LOVE rice pasta but "J" doesn't always. I feel that ANY of my pasta dishes can be easily switched to gluten-free! Yours sounds so simple and delish. I don't get to take care of the fresh parm, but garlic can make up for any of that!