Penne with Greens and Garlic
I learned a lot when we had our talk about the trials of weeknight dinners. It was a kind of “whoa there, Nelly” moment for me: it’s okay to defrost a veggie burger. In fact, it’s perfectly fine. Since then, I have taken it as my mantle to find the dinner recipes that will work for me on a Tuesday, instead of me working for them. The crux of this issue is about keeping my expectations in check (a personal bugaboo across the board): there is no one watching to see if we have takeout or cook macaroni and cheese from a box. Those days happen. Furthermore, there is no one who will be disappointed if we don’t have some gourmet feast. Except maybe me.
That’s the thing about having a vivid imagination. When you’re able to fully picture the wonderful ways you could be living (and, in part, the dinners you could be eating), it can rub up against the reality. If my imagination sees us sitting down to some lusciously simple, Alice Waters-type feast, why are we actually eating spaghetti-o’s in front of the television? Where, exactly, did we go wrong? My sky-high expectations (for dinner, and everything else) are probably compounded by having a blog. In a way, there is someone other than me who might be disappointed. I received an email once that said, “Your blog’s really pretty, but your food is super boring.” Despite shrugs and eyerolls to myself, that email really annoyed me, no matter how much I insisted for the rest of the day that one person’s boring is another person’s simple. And in the case of the weeknight dinner dilemma, one person’s boring is another person’s salvation.
It’s like what Mrs. Webb told me after my first act as president of our third-grade class resulted in a remark from a dissenting classmate so cruel I can still feel the sting, if not remember the jab. “You can’t please everyone all the time.”
I don’t want to pile on the expectations you might already have for yourself about how you should be living or what your apartment should look like. If you’re anything like me, you’ve got that taken care of all by yourself. For now, at least, I just want to focus on solutions. There are times for gazing inward and asking why and there are times to snap to attention and take action. I’m most interested in the actions these day: I want to figure out how to keep my calm at work, how to ease my late afternoon headaches, and how to kick into a handstand some day very soon. Also, I want to cook dinner, expectations firmly in check.
This is the kind of recipe that might not seem like much, but it is delicious nonetheless and now firmly entrenched in the weeknight rotation. I learned the hard way that, unfortunately, I wouldn’t pick chard for my running mate should I seek to run for office again. But no worries: when made again with Tuscan kale, this recipe was positively swoony. Use any greens you like, and you’ll have a healthy, speedy dinner in a snap. And seriously: how could that be a disappointment to anyone?
Penne with Greens and Garlic
from Gourmet
Serves 3
1 pound Swiss chard or greens of your choice, any woody stems cut from the leaves and the stems and leaves chopped separately
1/8 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes, or to taste
3 large garlic cloves sliced thin
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup water
1 cup drained canned tomatoes, chopped
1/2 pound penne or other tubular pasta
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan plus additional as an accompaniment
Rinse and drain separately the Swiss chard (or greens you are using) stems and leaves. In a large heavy skillet cook the red pepper flakes and the garlic in the oil over moderate heat, stirring, until the garlic is pale golden, add the stems and 1/4 cup of the water, and cook the mixture, covered, for 5 minutes, or until the stems are just tender. Add the leaves with the remaining 1/4 cup water and salt and pepper to taste and cook the mixture, covered, for 5 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and cook the mixture, covered, for 3 minutes, or until the leaves are tender.
While the chard is cooking, in a kettle of salted boiling water boil the penne until it is al dente and drain it in a colander. In a large bowl toss the penne with the chard mixture and 1/4 cup of the Parmesan and serve it with the additional Parmesan.
Bethany: A garlicky pasta way to eat my greens? I’m totally in. I will add this to my weeknight dinner rotation.1 year ago
Kristina Strain: You cook *boring* food?! Who said that? Give me their email so I can send them a piece of my mind. Pff, the nerve. I tried Molly Wizenberg’s spaghetti with braised kale a few weeks ago– seems like a similar idea except the kale is cooked until comatose. Pasta + greens, what’s not to love?1 year ago
Heidi: Realistic expectations are one of my problems as well, but I’m working on it. Last night was cabbage rolls from my freezer – zero effort. Tonight is homemade chicken pot pies, mashed potatoes and an apple-pear tart (leftover crust.) Hours of work? Yes. Children screaming for their grilled cheeses? Yes. Two glasses of wine consumed? You bet. But also an incredible sense of satisfaction, a great dinner and – bonus – two more delicious pies for the freezer. Tomorrow will be pasta with greens (hee hee!) and shrimp. I may even use your recipe, since it sounds so good and – above all – easy!1 year ago
Elaina: That looks delicious! Also, may I show this to Mrs. Webb? It would make her day I am sure.1 year ago
jiji: Girl, you do not cook boring food. My stomach literally growled when I saw that penne with greens and kale and potato photos. If boring means “looks delicious and I am now gnawing my arm to keep me from licking the computer screen”, then I’ll take boring any day of the week.
Keep doing what your’e doing. That’s why we love you!1 year ago
Tami -- Teacher Goes Back to School: I’m with Kristina – who says??!? That’s crazy.
Today someone at work referred to me as the “Chef” – I asked what she meant and she talked about how she thinks my lunches always look so appetizing. Funny because I was eating leftover pizza at the time – yes, “made” at home: cornmeal crust, jarred pesto, cut up red peppers and black olives. All because I make food at home and don’t eat take out every night.
If I could afford take out every night, I might eat it!
This dinner looks delicious and I’m always looking for new ways to get the greens in.
I agree that the blog can make everything a bit skewed. Who doesn’t have a veggie burger every once in a while?1 year ago
Oh you guys are so sweet. Well, what’s boring to some is gnaw-my-arm-off-delicious to others!
And Elaina! I would be honored! Sheesh. She was my favorite elementary school teacher.1 year ago
Amanda: I’ve been reading your blog for a while, and I just wanted to mention how lovely I always find your observations. They’re always so well-realized and beautifully written. You have a knack for finding little moments of sense that make life that much more satisfying.1 year ago
Tracy: Your food is never boring – its real people, real life food – and that’s what I love about your blog. You find the charm and magic in the ordinary.1 year ago
Sasa: Some people just don’t know how to act. Your food isn’t boring at all (and I used to cook in restaurants for a living) but even if it *were* what earthly reason would there be to tell someone such a thing? No need to lie but to go to the bother of actually emailing, just seems like envy to me: Envy that as everyone said above, you find the charm in simple things which is true grace.1 year ago
Brie.: your recipes are regularly my weeknight dinner salvation – or at least inspiration for my weeknight dinners…and this sounds just as divine as the rest!1 year ago
Sarah: As some just dipping her toes into the cooking world, I love your recipes. I need simple and delicious. I just want to feed my family, not be a gourmet chef. Today I blogged a Taco Mac dinner I made. Fancy? No. Super delicious after a long day? Yes! Thanks for this recipe, I am going to try it!1 year ago
Lisa (dinner party): Great post! Really good thoughts on personal standards and cooking for an audience–I find myself thinking this way too sometimes. When you love food so much it’s hard to not want every single meal you eat to be awesome. But in the end, it’s about doing the most with the time you have and not feeling bad if things aren’t exactly as incredible as you imagined, especially on busy weeknights.1 year ago
Tara: I totally disagree! I’ve made a number of your dishes and they have all turned out really yummy! Your black bean and tomato quinoa salad is a staple inmy diet now. Keep up the delicious work!1 year ago
Cadi: Real people with real jobs know that sometimes it’s just about getting dinner on the table. I struggle with this a lot, and I’m slowly learning that things may not always meet my high expectations of dinner fabulousness.
Some of my best dinners are things just like your yummy recipe above (which is being made tonight, by the way), but for fear of posting boring food and being called on it, it never makes it to my blog. Take last night: two bone in chicken breasts, seared off and then baked in a pan with some white wine and diced onion, which I turned into pan gravy at the end. Smashed red potatoes on the side and *gasp* no vegetable because I didn’t have the heart to dirty a bowl for a salad. It was amazing. The blogosphere will probably never see it.
And your food is NEVER boring, all of it and your whimsical posts keep me coming back every. single. day. Some people have no sense of good food and that person was probably one of them. Great good food doesn’t need to be exotic, or take a hundred ingredients and two days to be wonderful. Sometimes its all about greens and pasta.1 year ago
KBG in DC: Don’t you love how the anonymity of the Interwebs makes people feel like they can post any old rudeness that they would never have the guts to say if they had to say it to your face? Sheesh.
At least your tactless critic had the good sense to recognize that your blog is, in fact, really pretty. And in my opinion, “really pretty” is half-way there when it comes to food enjoyment. Dining right involves all five senses, not just one, and when you can see something beautiful sitting on your plate it heightens the anticipation of consumption. If it smells good, tastes good, and sounds delightful simmering in the pot, all the better.
I love your simple meals for being HEALTHY and made with reasonable ingredients that you can find at the normal grocery store. In fact, I put your pork and prune recipe to the ultimate test when I served it to my father-in-law (aka “Mr. Picky”) last fall, and it was a huge success.
What’s your definition of a “fast” weeknight meal? For me, it’s 30 minutes from start to serve, and there is a ton of stuff you can cobble together that is healthy, cheap, and easy. My favorite week night standards are stir-fries, chili, soups, grain-based salads, and pasta dishes. Leftovers are lunches. Extra sauce or stock gets frozen for emergencies. And there is nothing wrong with chips and salsa for dinner if you just can’t manage to turn on the stove. Occasionally.
You keep on keepin’ on!1 year ago
Lydia: Hmm, this recipe is kind of boring…kidding! Since I find myself bookmarking like half of your recipes, I should say they are not boring. Awesome, more like.
I have the same problem with overly-aspirational meals (or starting to make marmalade at 6 pm on a Sunday, whatevs.) I get all frustrated and stressed out and then no one’s happy.1 year ago
domestikate: What a rude email to send!
As usual, you manage to capture in words what happens in my head. My husband can never understand why I’m disappointed with perfectly adequate food – he just doesn’t get that I’m never aiming for just adequate!1 year ago
Linda Wagner - Nutrition to Invigorate Mind, Body & Spirit: mmm, The greens would even be good on their own!! Mouth watering….1 year ago
MrsWhitney: On supposedly “boring” food: to me, a major part of cooking for your loved ones is about the experience, about creating memories of being together over delicious food. And most of my food memories, the ones that conjure up that happy place in the midst of a stressful week, are not about that one time my mother tried some exotic recipe from a gourmet cookbook. They are Sunday dinners of pot roast and chicken and lasagna. I love your site precisely because so many of the recipes are everyday basics I can come back to again and again. Your husband’s lemon bars are MY husband’s favorite dessert!1 year ago
Hilltop Hausfrau: Your’re like me: I’m my own worst critic when it comes to what’s on the table for dinner on a Tuesday. No one else cares if its perogies from a bag but I CARE! Thanks for the reminder to dig into the winter greens here…1 year ago
Kate: Seriously? Who would go to the trouble of emailing such a dismissive comment? I spend a lot of time reading here, and clearly, not much time commenting, but I think you are wonderfully honest, articulate, and graceful. I’m sorry that someone was less so in commenting on your work.1 year ago
caryn: Kate (above) and Mrs. Webb are both absolutely correct! And the pasta recipe is getting a try-out this week at our house. Bah to the crankies. It’s sport for them. Your blog is lovely!1 year ago
Amanda Block: Yes! I’ve been making this for year with the slight addition of artichokes. Sometimes it needs a bit more acid, which paired with the parmagianno gives a lovely umami flavor.1 year ago
Katie: I love the look of this recipe and will have to try it out soon! I’ve recently fallen in love with chard and make a very similar recipe except I’ve never added the tomatoes. What a good idea. I usually cook my chard with procuitto and chicken broth instead of the water. Then I toss with buttered egg noodles. It is my new favorite easy weeknight dinner. Just wanted to say that I love your blog. Keep up the good work.1 year ago
Ellen: Made this for Saturday night dinner as a side with sweet Italian sausages and my family loved it! Thanks for the recipe. And yes, buttered spaghetti is the best! Hope you have a wonderful week.1 year ago