Friday Fridge Find Pasta

You may see a trend emerging if you've been following. Trying to up my frugal game in the kitchen. I'm inclined in this direction anyway, but the combo of reading this article about how 40% of food produced in America gets wasted, and trying to trim our budget a bit, has really got me going. I've gotten pretty good at concocting something tasty out of random items on hand, and figure that's something worth sharing.

The first veggie drawer didn't have too much to offer, just the remnants of a bag of baby spinach. The next drawer held a bit more promise: a decent amount of kale, an onion and some carrots. Also had a bit of leftover spinach salad. Looked like the makings of another pasta dish! Now, I'm not going to go write up a list of ingredients here; it's really about the process...you can modify the basic concept based on what you have.

1) Caramelize onion Started out by putting thinly sliced onion in a big pot with a bit of olive oil. Got it nice and hot on medium, and cooked until it was good and soft, add some minced garlic (3 cloves) and about 1/4 of a red bell pepper, diced. Your takeway: Start by sauteeing something in the onion family to give it a good flavor base...onion, garlic, shallot all work. Get the water going for the pasta as you start to cook the onion.

2) Braise kale: Now kale is a sturdy green, packed with nutrients, that needs to be cooked well to enjoy (or a bit chopped fine added to salad--but that's another post). Braising is a good way to go. Once that onion (or whatever else you have for step 1) is soft, add the chopped kale along with a cooking liquid and a touch of salt. I used some white wine, about 1/3 of a cup (more frugality--day 3 of the same bottle being opened, was more fit for cooking than drinking). A more modest amount of a vinegar could work, or perhaps some stock. But the wine worked very nicely. Stir everything to combine, then simmer, covered, for at least 10 minutes. Add the pasta (10 to 12 ozs of a short shape) to cook around the same time you start the kale.

3) Finish it up: Your pasta should be about done cooking around the same time the kale is ready. Beans are a nice way to add substance to the dish. I used cannelini, they absorbed the flavors nicely. Add the precooked beans to the kale pot and stir well to combine. After a couple minutes, I stirred in the spinach I had on hand, barely cooking it. Then it's ready to toss with the pasta, and of course, plenty of cheese and about a tbsp of extra olive oil. I used about 1/3 cup pecorino romano. I finished it with 1 tsp of high quality balsamic vinegar, a nice touch. Voila! Dinner is served. It was very tasty; I think the key to the flavor was the onions, which  had been caramelized enough to give them sweetness. They also absorbed the cooking wine to pack some extra taste.

Wine pairing: Served this with the  Saint-Peyre Picpoul-De-Pinet from the Languedoc region in France. Great value ($10), food-friendly. Medium-bodied, minerality, bit of citrus. Went very well with the dish.