not-so-innocent Greens-inspired Pasta and Rice
Ingredient inspiration: Stinging Nettles
One day I received a bunch of greens in my weekly produce delivery box. There was arugula, parsley, sage, baby broccoli, and other leafy greens that I didn’t even recognize. One caught my eye (or rather the skin on my hand felt it immediately) - the stinging nettles. How often does one find stinging nettles in regular grocery stores, let alone in their produce delivery box? I was ecstatic! A new ingredient had entered my kitchen-verse.
I had only eaten nettles once before on a pizza at a high end restaurant. They needed to be cooked to get rid of the sting and be edible. I decided to keep it simple and keep maximum nettle flavor intact. So naturally it would to be a sauté in a bit of olive oil and sprinkled with salt.
In my excitement over stinging nettles, I momentarily forgot about the other greens. But they were in my kitchen, they had to be consumed, and I wasn’t sure exactly what to do with them. The baby broccoli was easy - same treatment as stinging nettles - sauté with oil + salt. Isn’t it gorgeous?
How does one consume a mountain of greens all at the same time (without puking)? I thought about blanching them all and eating a ‘greens only’ meal but that honestly did not sound appetizing (edible though). I also thought about cutting them up and freezing them to make it a future problem. But I knew once they go in the freezer they will most likely go into the garbage a couple months later. Cue in the guilt.
Pasta
Looking around in my cupboards I found Trader Joe’s lasagna sheets. Aha - I’ll make pasta with a green sauce! I did not have any other style of pasta and was in no mood to arduously make lasagna (neither did I possess the relevant cheese). It was time to get creative and improvise. I broke up the lasagna sheets (voila, normal-ish pasta!) and cooked them to al dente. For the green sauce, I blended the various greens, a little bit of sautéed nettles, garlic cloves, cashews, olive oil, salt, and some water. I cooked a few button mushrooms in olive oil, added a bit of raw greens (for texture), threw in the blended green sauce with the al dente pasta, and brought it all together with a bit of pasta water. The pasta turned out good enough, with a little bitterness from some of the greens, which added the ‘unexpected’ in a green sauce pasta.
Now that all the greens were cooked and used in some form or fashion - it was time to eat! I plated all my green creations and topped the pasta with a bit of feta cheese. The nettles were crunchy with slight bitterness, the broccoli was crunchy and moist, and the pasta was herbaceous and earthy and tangy. All in all - this was a good meal!
Rice
What to do with a mountain of leftover blended greens? They sat in my fridge overnight but they continued to nag my mind the whole time. I was stressed out about how I was going to use them and after all the effort I put in, I was scared I might have to toss them (ouch). I woke up with an epiphany: rice + sauce always go well together! The next day I cooked rice (basmati) with the blended green sauce. I topped it with some fresh parsley, feta cheese, and a spoonful of potato hash I had leftover from breakfast. I enjoyed this rice dish more than the pasta!
In closing, I humbly request stinging nettles to grace my kitchen any day, I await with open arms. What about you?
Dish Debrief:
Is this my winner or disaster? leaning towards a win
How would I rate this dish out of 10? 7 out of 10
What would I change next time? Add cheese to the pasta to make it creamy, add fewer bitter greens in the green sauce
Would I make this again? Most likely