Every time this table and its counterparts are done visiting family, meals at home for the first few days back are ALWAYS meatless and contain lots and lots of fresh vegetables. Freshness in order to reset the body. At the end of Spring Break it was Eat Your Greens and at Thanksgiving it was Squash Stir Fry. Today with a garden gone crazy during the four vacation days, it was Lemon Parmesan and Kale Spaghetti with Olives.
Modifications Made:
One small diced yellow onion was sauteed in a tablespoon of bacon grease until nice and soft. To onion, washed, dried, and diced chard stems were added and cooked till tender. While chard cooked, one box of tri-colored spiral noodles were cooked in heavily salted water, saving back one cup of pasta water. Once chard stems were fork tender, a dab of butter was added along with two teaspoons of garlic and finely chopped chard leaves. To tender chard, zest and juice of one lemon was added along with pasta and third cup of sliced jalapeno stuffed olives. Pasta and chard mixture was tossed adding reserved pasta water to create base. Parmesan and red pepper flakes were not added but a smidgeon of mozzarella was tossed in directly before serving.
Scaled for Likability: Great
If I were going to write a real food blog, Simply Scratch would be along the lines of how I would take and place pictures, discuss recipe steps, and conclude the meal.
There is just something lovely about the combination of lemon and chard/kale/bitter greens. Lemon base over pasta with a hint of cheese, always good. Jalapeno stuffed olives, always good, even straight out of the jar. Combined all together, a flavor explosion in every bite.