green sauce for pasta

[Guest guest]

hey, everyone,

 

here's one we like -- we being could-stand-to-gain-few-pounds 50ish

type-A-professional wife, health- & weight-conscious teen athlete type

daughter, and obsessive-compulsive overeater broken-down ex-jock

50s-ish me - i can leave this disclaimer off in the future). i have to

please all 3 of us! like most things i make, never make exactly the

same way twice. the recipe i work from and how i actually prepare it,

which is to try to use up the ingredients as purchased:

 

2 tsp canola oil (a spilling-over TBSP of olive oil)

8 cups of coarsely chopped spinach, kale, or chard (i use flat leaf

spinach, about 12 cups worth - that is, about 1/2 large bag of the

prewashed stuff, and i don't even bother to chop it)

a medium sized yellow onion, coarsely chopped (i like to use a large

sweet vidalia onion)

couple of cloves of minced garlic (last night i used the equivalent

of about 6!)

1/2 cup of coarsely chopped fresh basil or arugula (again, i don't

bother with much chopping here)

1 cup part-skim ricotta (i used an entire 15 oz container - also, i

don't see why nonfat wouldn't work with this recipe)

1 tsp salt

1/ tsp freshly ground black pepper (i use a TSBP last night. family

likes it spicy)

 

heat the oil to medium in a large saucepan or wok. gently cook the

garlic and onion until they're translucent & soft, 4 - 6 minutes. add

the greens, the basil or arugula, and cook until they're nicely

wilted, 4 - 6 minutes. amazing how these things cook down. put

everything in a steel-bladed food processor and blend until smooth.

recipe book says 5 seconds, for me, it's about 30 seconds going from

low to high in the good old vita-mix.

 

meanwhile, you've cooked a pound (if you're using my version, you'll

have some tasty leftovers) of pasta. you're treating yourself & your

loved ones with kindness, so you've spent $1 extra (we're talking at

least 5 filling servings here, so it's pennies) and bought some REALLY

good pasta. i like DiCecco. you'll want to used something like rotini,

because the sauce is meant to fill into the twists and ridges.

 

drain the pasta, put in back in the pot, and mix the sauce onto it.

mix well. at first, it'll look like green soup over a little pasta,

but as you stir to coat, it'll be just right. serve it up, and don't

get too much to start - it's filling! (you can toss some grated

parmesan or romano on top if you want, and i usually grind some more

pepper over mine).

 

this stuff is good warmd up as leftovers, and even better, it's

wonderful as a cold pasta salad! only took about 25 minutes to make

last night, with the new White Stripes CD blasting. bluegrass, it

would've taken 23, andrea bocelli, maybe a half-hour.

 

enjoy.

ron

 

PS: what's a recipe without some humor?

[Guest guest]

Ron, that looks awesome! We're a pasta-lovin' athletic family on the go. So this

is just

the kind of thing we're looking for.

 

We do the whole-foods things at our house. I really like kamut rotini for a

saucy dish

like this. It holds up much better to the sauce than whole wheat pasta or spelt

pasta. The

whole wheat and the spelt just seem to go a little limp

 

Thanks for the recipe!

Cheers!

Denise G.

 

 

-----

From : Ron Everhart[ron.everhart]

Sent : 6/26/2007 9:24:22 AM

To :

Cc :

Subject : RE: green sauce for pasta

 

hey, everyone,

 

here's one we like -- we being could-stand-to-gain-few-pounds 50ish

type-A-professional wife, health- & weight-conscious teen athlete type

daughter, and obsessive-compulsive overeater broken-down ex-jock

50s-ish me - i can leave this disclaimer off in the future). i have to

please all 3 of us! like most things i make, never make exactly the

same way twice. the recipe i work from and how i actually prepare it,

which is to try to use up the ingredients as purchased:

 

2 tsp canola oil (a spilling-over TBSP of olive oil)

8 cups of coarsely chopped spinach, kale, or chard (i use flat leaf

spinach, about 12 cups worth - that is, about 1/2 large bag of the

prewashed stuff, and i don't even bother to chop it)

a medium sized yellow onion, coarsely chopped (i like to use a large

sweet vidalia onion)

couple of cloves of minced garlic (last night i used the equivalent

of about 6!)

1/2 cup of coarsely chopped fresh basil or arugula (again, i don't

bother with much chopping here)

1 cup part-skim ricotta (i used an entire 15 oz container - also, i

don't see why nonfat wouldn't work with this recipe)

1 tsp salt

1/ tsp freshly ground black pepper (i use a TSBP last night. family

likes it spicy)

 

heat the oil to medium in a large saucepan or wok. gently cook the

garlic and onion until they're translucent & soft, 4 - 6 minutes. add

the greens, the basil or arugula, and cook until they're nicely

wilted, 4 - 6 minutes. amazing how these things cook down. put

everything in a steel-bladed food processor and blend until smooth.

recipe book says 5 seconds, for me, it's about 30 seconds going from

low to high in the good old vita-mix.

 

meanwhile, you've cooked a pound (if you're using my version, you'll

have some tasty leftovers) of pasta. you're treating yourself & your

loved ones with kindness, so you've spent $1 extra (we're talking at

least 5 filling servings here, so it's pennies) and bought some REALLY

good pasta. i like DiCecco. you'll want to used something like rotini,

because the sauce is meant to fill into the twists and ridges.

 

drain the pasta, put in back in the pot, and mix the sauce onto it.

mix well. at first, it'll look like green soup over a little pasta,

but as you stir to coat, it'll be just right. serve it up, and don't

get too much to start - it's filling! (you can toss some grated

parmesan or romano on top if you want, and i usually grind some more

pepper over mine).

 

this stuff is good warmd up as leftovers, and even better, it's

wonderful as a cold pasta salad! only took about 25 minutes to make

last night, with the new White Stripes CD blasting. bluegrass, it

would've taken 23, andrea bocelli, maybe a half-hour.

 

enjoy.

ron

 

PS: what's a recipe without some humor?

[Guest guest]

This sounds absolutely delightful! Thanks for sharing.

 

 

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