Chickpea and Swiss Chard Pasta
While this isn’t necessarily a food blog, I can’t help but combine my two loves: cooking and growing vegetables. So today, it’s a food blog.
I just finished reading (or listening to- I am addicted to Audible) Stanley Tucci’s autobiography, Taste. While the following recipe is not from his book, I now can’t stop thinking about eating pasta at nearly every meal. He has ruined me.
So here was lunch today- chickpea and (fresh from the garden) Swiss Chard with a lovely amount of olive oil, garlic, cheese and red pepper flakes. I may need a second bowl before continuing.
Here’s what you need:
16 oz box of short, ribbed pasta (I used Mostaccioli Rigate because it was in my pantry)
½ c extra virgin olive oil, divided
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 tsp red pepper flakes (adjust as desired)
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and dried off using a paper towel
1 bundle of Swiss Chard (or really any leafy green like spinach or kale), de-stemmed and cut into ½ inch slivers
Lots of kosher salt (I’ll explain in the directions)
3 Tbs capers, drained
1 ½ c fresh grated Parmesan cheese (while a pain and a little expensive, this is WAY better than the stuff you buy in the plastic bottle- you will not regret the effort)
1 lemon zested
Garlic olive oil for finishing if you’re feeling fancy (I had it on hand, otherwise I would’ve use good old EVOO)
Here’s what you do:
· Get a large pot of water and put it on the stove, add 2 Tbsp kosher salt, bring to a boil. Now a little side note- I used the box directions and boiled for 10 minutes. In the future I will probably reduce by 1-2 minutes since the pasta will continue to cook later in the recipe. It was slightly too soft for my taste boiling for 10 minutes.
While water is heating up…
o Drain, rinse and dry off your chickpeas
o De-stem and slice your Swiss Chard
o Crush your garlic cloves
o Drain and rinse your capers
· In a large sauté pan, heat up 1/4c extra virgin olive oil over medium-high heat. Once it’s shimmering (1 min or so), add the chickpeas. They will pop and splatter- be prepared.
· Stir occasionally but let the chickpeas brown and crisp up, about 5 minutes.
· Add 2 cloves crushed garlic and 1 tsp red pepper flakes (or less if desired), stir and let sauté for 1 minute or so. Don’t let the garlic burn! This will be very bad.
· Add Swiss Chard (or other greens) and ½ tsp kosher salt, stir and let wilt for about 3 minutes.
· At this point, your pasta should be almost done- DO NOT DRAIN!!!
· Ladle 1/2c of the pasta water into the sauté pan and let simmer for 1 min.
· If your pasta isn’t within a minute or two of finishing, turn down the heat on your sauté pan to wait for the pasta to be ready. Again DO NOT DRAIN!!! Please.
Once your pasta is ready, you have 2 options:
o If you have one of those spider ladle contraptions (see pic) then scoop the pasta from the water directly into the sauté pan. You will still need 1c of pasta water so don’t dump it out.
o If you do not have one of those ladles, reserve 1c of pasta water, drain the pasta through a colander, then dump the drained pasta into the sauté pan.
· DO NOT STIR at this point! Grate 1 ½ c Parmesan cheese on top of the pasta– this is a labor of love. I am sorry but it is necessary. Do not cave and buy the jarred stuff from the store. Please. I beg you.
· Add the lemon zest to the pile of cheese you have grated on top of the pasta. NOW stir/toss together.
· Add 1c of pasta water and 1/4c EVOO.
· Simmer for 2 minutes.
· Turn off heat and add capers.
· Finish with a little more Parm (to your liking) and a drizzle of Garlic Olive Oil (or regular EVOO).
· Serve. Try to stop eating at some point but good luck. I have literally eaten 2 bowls and it’s the middle of the day. Not even a meal time. It is so good I am trying not to go back for a 3rd bowl.
