Pinterest Pasta
We need to talk about spaghetti.
Because first, everybody loves spaghetti. Am I right?
And then, because look at this…
What you see there is the result of my efforts with a recipe I found on Pinterest. The original calls it Pasta with Kale, Kalamata Olives, Dried Cranberries, Toasted Garlic & Feta and it is from Two Peas & Their Pod. Great site – go there.
I pinned that recipe because I like each of those ingredients in the name. Separately. But together? Seemed weird. But I pinned it because why not? I went over to Two Peas and read the whole post and found that they call this “crazy spaghetti” because it’s “crazy good.” OK. More intrigued. Still…that’s a lot of ingredients and then there is that part about the kale getting cooked.
I do not like cooked greens. Ever.
I love kale. But I have yet to get brave enough to cook it. Well, there was that one attempt at kale chips which seemed like a very good idea in theory…but was a big fat fail. But wilted greens….no, thank you very much.
I flirted with this on my Pinterest board for a while. I suggested it to Fab Hub…he said “Ooohhhkaaayyy….,” which is what he says when he means something like “I want to say I’ll try it but I can pretty much guarantee I won’t like it but since you want me to try good and healthy stuff and you also want me to like it, I’ll at least give it a shot even though there are about nine things in there that I really don’t like.” Fair enough. So I let it stay on my Pinterest board and mentally filed it under the “eh…maybe” category.
About two weeks ago, I very tentatively put it on the list of proposed meals for the upcoming week. Fab Hub made sure all necessary items were in the house – they were because each of those ingredients is something we use regularly. Bonus!
But I didn’t make it. Too chicken. Wilty greens.
And so I put it on the proposed meals list again this week. Before I left work on Monday, I asked Fab Hub and Zilla to please make a choice from the list for dinner. (This, by the way, is a pretty good solution to the “What do you want to do about dinner?” dilemma. Put up a list of a few good options and pick from that. But I digress…)
When I arrived home, Fab Hub announced that they would like to try the crazy spaghetti. Really? I expect adventuresome eating from Zilla. But Fab Hub? Really?
Me: “Are you sure?”
FH: “Yeah. Sounds interesting.”
Me: “It has kale.”
FH: “I don’t like kale.”
Me: “Exactly. So why would I make this…?”
FH: “Make mine without kale.”
Nice try, Anti-Veggie Man. Despite Hub’s growth in the area of vegetables, he will still attempt to forego vegetables when given the opportunity.
Me: “OK, but you have to put something green in there in place of the kale. Asparagus would probably work really well.
FH: “I don’t like asparagus.”
Me: “Of course.”
FH: “OK, edamame beans.”
Me: “Who are you?”
FH: “What?”
Me: “Five years ago you wouldn’t even look at an edamame bean. Just saying.”
FH: “I look at them now.”
Me: “Ooohhhkaaayyy….”
And so we made “crazy spaghetti.”
Maria at Two Peas is right – this stuff is crazy good. It is also crazy easy. And fast. And really pretty. Camera quality is not the best on this one – used a different camera. But you can still see how awesome those colors look together. Green kale, red cranberries, deep purple kalamata olives…
Now go make some.
Pasta with Kale, Kalamata Olives, Dried Cranberries, Toasted Garlic, & Feta
Here’s what you need:
- 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 head garlic, cloves peeled and thinly sliced lengthwise
- 1 medium red onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1 large bunch of kale, stems removed and leaves coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup water
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 pound spaghetti or other pasta (The Two Peas use whole wheat; so did we.)
- 1/2 cup Kalamata olives, cut into slivers-pits removed (We bought pitted ones at the Mediterranean bar at our Super-Disney-Market-Land.)
- 1 1/2 cups crumbled feta cheese (I used the herbed stuff I always get from the Mediterranean foods guy at the Farmer’s Market. Plain would be just as fine.)
Here’s what to do:
1. Heat olive oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat until it shimmers, then cook garlic, stirring, until golden, about 3 minutes. Transfer garlic with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain. Cook onion in the remaining oil over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add dried cranberries and cook until plumped, about 1 minute. (Works exactly like Maria says. One warning, though – my garlic toasted up super fast and looked quite a bit browner than hers did on their site. So watch that.)
2. Add kale leaves into onion mixture with water and 3/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Cook, covered, over medium-high heat until almost tender, about 5 minutes. (OK…that part about wilty greens? Yeah, I definitely skipped this part. I kept my kale out until the whole thing was ready to toss and let the heat of the dish do its thing. Worked for me. I did put the edamame beans in for Fab Hub at this point, though.)
3. Meanwhile, cook pasta in a pasta pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Reserve 1 cup pasta-cooking water and drain pasta. (I always forget to save pasta water…don’t forget your pasta water.)
4. Toss pasta with kale, kalamata olives, and 1/2 cup pasta water. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle feta cheese and garlic chips over the pasta dish and serve warm.
Makes 6-8 servings.
Note: Fab Hub and Zilla did indeed eat theirs with the edamame beans instead of kale and they both loved it. I tossed a couple into my dish in addition to the kale. It works quite well. Hub and Zilla also opted for freshly grated parmesan cheese instead of feta because neither is a huge fan of feta if there is another option. Also excellent – because the parmesan is salty in much the same way that feta is, the result is very similar – salty sweet spaghetti happiness.
The final vote? Fab Hub pronounced it “good” (that’s big for him) and said he would eat it again. Kidzilla loved it – the meal earned four winks. When Kidzilla loves her meal, she winks at me and makes a little click with her teeth. I can’t stop thinking about it which means it’s on the menu again next week.
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21 Comments
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That does sound crazy good! I think I’ll try. thanks
Hi, Carol. It is crazy good. I promise you will enjoy! Happy spaghetti-ing!
That sounds worth trying, except I can’t get past the kale thing. We used to feed that to our guinea pigs. I might, MIGHT be able to substitute baby spinach. I’ll try it after my son goes to college, because he wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole.
Yes, try it with whatever green you like. Or…give kale a shot! I thought I would hate kale, but I eat it almost every day for lunch – I love it. Mostly, I like how it doesn’t get wilty with dressing. But yes, spinach would work. Or maybe shredded Brussels sprouts? I think this has great potential for variation.
You will be the first to know how it turns out. (I’m still not sold on the kale. I’m afraid I’ll grow whiskers and crave cedar shavings.)
I’ll admit, the dried cranberries are making me pause. Maybe without the dried cranberries? Otherwise, I think it sounds awesome, kale and all 🙂
OK, so if you are not a dried cranberry/craisin fan try something else? Raisins? Dates? Dried figs? You definitely want that salty/sweet thing going on. They re-hydrate and plump up in the cooking process…does that convince you?
I had the same reaction… “eh, what the….” , but really why not!
Exactly! It’s worth the adventure. 🙂 Try it…you will love.
Yum, that looks good. I’d definitely eat it if it were made. Although I’m healthy like that. I’m actually the one pushing more healthy options on my wife instead of the other way around. I’ll have to give this meal a try. After all, like you said, who doesn’t love spaghetti?
Yeah, and this is CRAZY spaghetti. It is really good. You and your wife will be love it – I guarantee it.
That sounds amazing. I totally want to try this recipe. I love kale.
Hi, Jen. It is absolutely delicious – you’ll love it!
I am not sure if I will get brave enough. I have never had kale to my knowledge. The other ingredients…I am like you. Love them. Love, love. By themselves. Don’t know about together. It does sound like exactly the type of dinner I should try though.
We liked it – weird combo and all! And Fab Hub did substitute edamame for the kale, so he was happy. I think anything green would work – asparagus, maybe?
*drool* And now the Ham n’ Cheese Subway sub I’m currently chomping on looks, well…sad! Gotta try this!
It’s completely delicious – and fast, too! Even better.
This looks so delicious and I really think I will make tomorrow. I will not use the Kale, but will substitute with some kind of bean!!! We have tried Kale and just cannot get “into” it, but I love most everything else!
Tell me how you like it! We really loved it – both the kale and the bean varieties.
YUM! I have never cooked with kale or edamame, not that I’m scared of either, just that it takes a lot of effort to add something new to the shopping list. I will have to try this, because spaghetti is super, and this looks Awesome.
We just had it again last night to rave reviews all around. Stays on the roster as a regular favorite!