Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Pasta with Beans and Greens


It's been awhile since I posted a recipe so I thought I'd share one today since I made this last night and actually remembered to take some pictures. This is a wonderfully easy, nutritious, and super fast recipe that we like to make all year long, but particularly when beautiful bright green spinach is starting to show up in the local farmer’s market.

My trusty assistant doing a superb cleaning job on the leaves.
Aren't they a gorgeous green?
The leaves, not the hands of my assistant.....


Pasta with Beans and Greens

1 can of organic navy beans, drained
Olive oil (about a tablespoon)
2-3 cloves of garlic minced
1 med onion chopped
White wine about ¼ cup
2 bunches of spinach (This really cooks down fast, see before and after below.)
Cooked Pasta (I usually use 8 oz for 3 people but you can stretch this and add more to feed a larger group)
salt to taste


Bring your pasta water to a boil while you sauté the onion in some olive oil until it's wilted and golden. Then add the garlic and cook a minute more. Add the beans and the wine. Start your pasta. Then add the spinach (slice these into manageable pieces). Once all the leaves are wilted, give the sauce a couple more minutes to cook but not too long, you want the leaves to still be green. Add the pasta and a little of the pasta water. Eat! Yum!
The whole process takes about 20 minutes tops.

We like to serve this with a bit of grated Parmesan and some hot chili oil on top…
Before

After



You can substitute chard, a little fresh basil or oregano, and some fresh chopped tomatoes in the summer; kale, thyme, and peppers in the fall. The meat lovers can throw in some Italian sausage, use different cooked beans, and you can even sub cooked diced potatoes for pasta! There are tons of variations so use whatever is in season and available for a super yummy dinner in no time.

4 comments:

  1. Yum...looks very good. I grow both Swiss chard and spinach in my garden so this is a keeper I think. Thank you

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  2. This looks seriously delicious. But you know what caught my eye? The beverage on the windowsill....... now that looks yummy!
    :)

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  3. Lol Sara! Sorry to disappoint but it's only seltzer water with lime...but a G&T would be seriously delicious!

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  4. Ooh, this looks good! I'll have to try it! I wonder how it would taste with chopped-up bacon in it? Hmm, so many experiments...

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