Pasta with Swiss chard, shallots, sundried tomatoes, kalamata olives, parsley and feta. That's what! It is amazing to me that such a wonderful meal can be prepared with no planning and no recipe. One of the lies I buy is that I have to have a recipe for everything I make. I am perfectly capable of using my noodle (pun intended) to create recipes of my own. I am convinced that if you keep a well stocked pantry and fridge, you can create a wonderful meal in no time flat. You just have to keep things simple. The noodles I used were made locally with free range eggs. The Swiss chard came from our wonderful winter vegetable CSA (www.bountifulblessingsfarm.com) and the parsley came from our garden. Parsley is crazy hardy, but I think it bit the dust with the freeze last night. All that said, here's my very own recipe for this quick pasta dish.
Kristie's "Nothing To Eat" Pasta
Serves 4
Ingredients
12 oz. fettucini pasta
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
1 T. Smart Balance margarine
2 shallots, sliced thinly
6 cups Swiss chard, cleaned and chopped
1/4 c. sundried tomatoes packed oil, chopped
1/4 c. kalamata olives, chopped
1/2 c. chopped fresh parsley
1/2 c. feta cheese
Preparation
Bring a LARGE pot of water to a boil on the stove and salt the water liberally. Boil pasta until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking liquid. Drain and set pasta aside.
Meanwhile, add oil and Smart Balance to a large pan and saute shallots and Swiss chard for 5-8 minutes. Add sundried tomatoes, olives and parsley and cook for another 3-5 minutes. Add reserved pasta cooking liquid to vegetables bring to a bubble. Add pasta and toss. Remove from heat. Pour into serving dish and top with crumbled feta.
This would be AMAZING with a nice, crisp white wine, but we didn't have any. We drank Cumberland punch instead (a.k.a. Tennessee water). Enjoy!
Kristie
4 comments:
Recipes? Who needs 'em? I have often just raided the pantry and tossed together what seemed right. Over the years, I have created some of the greatest dishes - none of which I can ever recreate because I didn't keep track of what went into them!!
Just curious - You say "no restaurants", but what does that mean? Any place that sells food or just the sit-down three course varities? Do coffee shops, delis, and roadside stands count? Do you mean any food someone else prepared? How far would that go? What level of prepared items are acceptable? Are heat-and-serve main courses (i.e. Stouffers Lasagna) out of the question? How far to the other end of the spectrum do you plan to go? Will you make your own bread and pasta? Lots of questions, I know. And many you may not have answers for yet. I was just curious.
And yes, I agree that a freezer is a must! We have a large upright freezer that we stock when I cook up huge batches of chili, beef soup, and other meals. We freeze them in lunch- or dinner-sized portions and grab them when we want them. That's home-cooked fast-food. :)
Good luck with it! I'll be keeping track!
Mark
Is this Mark P? All food that is prepared by someone other than us or someone we know personally is out. That includes take out, pick up, order in, fast food, convenience stores and mobile food vendors. The one thing that we ARE allowing is coffee from our local coffee shop. But NO FOOD, just basic coffee no fancy $4.00 concoctions. As far as prepared foods go (frozen lasagna, etc.), we hardly ever eat them anyway, so they are out by default. We will do a combination of making things from scratch and purchasing breads and other ingredients as needed. We belong to three CSA groups where we get local meats, vegetables and canned goods. That will be our main source of nourishment. :)
See this through Kristie and good health will be your reward! Happy New Year! Judy (Doe Run Farm CSA)
Judy,
Thank you for your post. I will add your farm to the links on both of my blogs. I love supporting local agriculture.
Kristie
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