Kale Pasta Thing

Sarah's posted a couple of really useful lists in the past couple months over at In Praise of Leftovers. One of my favorites was Ten Tips for Getting Comfortable in the Kitchen, particularly number 3.

3. Pick a few easy, healthy things and get really good at them. Don’t worry about being inventive at first. Focus on technique, timing, and simple ingredients. If you never “progress” beyond this, you’re still ahead of most people.

One of my successful intentions for 2010 was to cook more at home and get better at it. I'm starting to understand the framework of recipes more instead of needing to follow them literally. I can substitute things with success and recognize the potential for things kicking around in the fridge and the pantry. I can make granola without a recipe. I can roast peppers and blister brussel sprouts. I'm getting pretty successful with this pastry dough (love the lemon zest! I don't use the corn syrup). I'm off to a good start with a turkey bacon, brussel sprout, onion pizza, but the dough needs more work. It needs to be flatter and more cracker like even. I'm happy to keep trying and R. is happy to keep sampling until we hit the sweet spot and stop fussing with it. I received the nicest compliment from a new neighbor. I wish I knew her name. We were both outside our building at the same time and she said "Hi, I live across the hall from you." And my immediate thought was we were too loud. My godson spent the night and we were up at 8:00 a.m. building designs out of dominoes on end to knock over and squeal in delight. W. also taught me a dice game that morning and I was winning for 3/4's of the game much to his vocalized chagrin. But, alas, she only wanted to tell me "your apartment always smells so good. I really admire you for cooking in that tiny kitchen." I asked her if she liked baked goods and promised to leave some next time.

One of my sincerest pleasures from my fall travels was being the cook for our trio while I was visiting Sara and Leo. Leo did dishes and Sara helped out once in awhile or came into the kitchen on breaks from studying to say "thank you! Are you sure you're having fun?" We went out to eat 2 or 3 times that I remember over those days together and the rest of the time we ate at home - galettes, stuffed acorn squash, nachos, green lentils with bacon, onion, and carrots, pizza with goat cheese and butternut squash, salads, blistered brussel sprouts, mashed parsnips and potatoes and this kale pasta dish for me and Leo one night when Sara was at school.

One thing I'm getting really good at is this kale pasta thing for lack of a better title. It started from a recipe on Orangette's website which you can find here. I love onions. This is a new discovery for me this year. I liked them before, but now I LOVE them. I buy 4 at a time now at the market because I use them in several things and I like that this recipe features them.

Here's my version which uses a lot less butter/oil than the original or Orangette's. I've found that you don't need much butter for the taste to come through quite clearly. I've also added kale because another thing I love is greens and I wanted to find a way to get some color and more nutrients in this dish. Lacinato kale is my current favorite. I also use less pasta because I'm more interested in the kale and the onions. This recipe provides a nice serving size for two people plus leftovers for a meal the next day.

Ingredients List:

3 to 4 T. Olive Oil

1 to 2 T. Butter

1 1/2 to 2 Yellow Onions (depending on size)

Pinch of sugar

1 bunch Lacinto Kale

8 oz. Pasta (not spaghetti or Angel Hair, I like shells or bow ties or something else chunky)

Kosher Salt to taste

Grated Parmesan to taste

The way I do it:

Turn your burner on Medium High heat and let a large frying pan warm up. Dump in the oil and the butter, let the butter melt.

Slice the onion into 1/4" thick strips and add to pan with oil and melted butter.

Stir and keep a close eye on the onions for a bit. Sprinkle on the pinch of sugar and stir. Pay attention to the onions and attempt not to burn them. Leave them on the stove for about 30 minutes and stir frequently.

Chop the kale.

At 30 minutes, turn on the water for the pasta, turn down the onions to medium-low, add the kale on top of the onions and cover. Let the kale steam for a bit.

When the water is boiling add the pasta and then mix the onions and the kale together. Turn the heat to low and re-cover.

When the pasta is done, turn off the onions, drain the pasta quickly. Add the hot drained pasta to the kale + onion mix and combine.

Serve in individual bowls. Garnish with a little kosher salt and grated parmesan. You only need about as much cheese per person as you would put on one cracker. Seriously.

I've made this for my sister, my pastor, Leo. It's been kind of a surprise delight with all of them because there's not much to it. It has now surpassed soy cheese nachos as R's favorite thing we eat together. And tomorrow night I'm serving it to the Leftoverist and co. The true test.

I hope this year to learn and practice one or two more simple recipes I can add to my repetoire. Until then I'm going to try this recipe with whole wheat pasta and another time with brown rice.

Here's another good post about heathy eating habits. One of my goals for 2011 is to move out of the obese category on the BMI chart to the overweight category by the end of the year. And thanks to a goal party one of the fellow members at Liberation hosted, I have a goals partner at church too. It feels like having a Secret Santa to me. Very nice.

I'm not planning to do this with a diet. I'm planning to keep doing what I'm doing and add a couple more things. The most effective things I've changed over the past couple of years are three things: Oatmeal for breakfast 6 out of 7 days every week. I love it, it's not a chore. And more beans - easy, yum. Less bread - harder, but more satisfying in the long run. I don't buy bread to have at home for myself anymore and try to pay attention to whether I'm eating it more than once a day. Favorite reason to eat good bread - Shannon's homemade rye bagels! That's a recipe I want to learn too.

This year more whole grains, mindful eating - like sitting at the table instead of standing at my butcher block island & pausing between bites, meditation, checking in with myself and more walking for exercise sake, not just transportation. Surrender to the fact that being healthier will require more daily discipline. So far, so good. Joyful even. Grateful to be alive and well.

Salud!