Nuts and Bolts:

Goat cheese and bitter greens pasta is one of my go-to meals in the spring or fall when bitter greens are in season. I live on the Agricultural Reserve in Maryland and get most of the produce from local farms. Before we moved here, I would get greens from a farmer’s market.

Now I am a fan of bitter green, but growing up, I disliked them. My family never ate them. I was told they were awful. Now I eat them all the time, and that is all because of Mollie Katzen’s Vegetable Heaven. On page 105 of that book is a recipe called “Bitter Greens with sweet onion and tart cheese,” this recipe taught me the method for the dish I’ve created. 

My thoughts on Goat Cheese and Bitter Green Pasta:

1.    This is an excellent recipe if you have a CSA. It uses up a lot of greens.

2.    I use goat cheese in this recipe because my family loves it, but Feta would work great.

3.    There is a fair amount of salt in this dish. You can use less salt, but the cooking time will be longer. So, when I cook like this and the pan gets dry instead of getting more oil. I add some water to the pan to deglaze the brown bits and keep the food cooking without it burning.

4.    I use regular pasta because my husband is not a fan of whole wheat pasta, but I think it tastes better with whole wheat pasta.

1. Method:

This recipe uses three big bunches of bitter greens, but you can always use more. I have made this recipe with kale, curly kale, chard, rainbow chard, collards, spinach, and arugula. I do not clean the bitter greens first. I strip the leaves greens of the stocks and then tear them to smaller sizes. Depending on how dirty they are, I will put the leaves in a colander or salad spinner to clean. I got these bitter greens from our CSA, and their produce is super clean.  I run cold water through it to clean it.

IMPORTANT TIP: If the greens are dirty, I put them in batches into my salad spinner. I fill the salad spinner with water and soak for a minute or two. Then drain and do it again until it is clean. Then, spin it dry.

Here is what you will need for this recipe besides the greens: Two small onions or one medium, two garlic cloves, two 8-ounce packages of mushrooms, a 10-ounce log of goat cheese, red or white wine, salt, pepper, olive oil, and one pound of penne pasta.

 I clean and slice the mushrooms first. Then I chop the garlic, followed by the onion; I begin boiling the water for pasta after all the vegetables are prepared. I like to add the oil to a cold pan and then start heating the pan. So, I splash in about two tablespoons of olive oil in the pan. When the oil is hot, I add the onion and a little bit of salt. The salt helps the onions soften and break down faster. It takes somewhere between 3- 5 minutes for the onions to turn translucent and start to brown. 

IMPORTANT TIP: All stoves are different, my current stove gets hot fast, and food cooks more rapidly than other stoves I have used in the past. So, your cooking could take three minutes or ten minutes, depending on how hot your stove gets.

Then I add the mushroom and the garlic with a little bit of salt. This helps the liquid come out of the mushroom and helps with the sauce for the pasta. Let this cook for five or so minutes or until the mushrooms are soft and liquid has been released from them.

Then start adding the greens in batches. It will seem like they are too high and will not cook, but they cook down fast. Add some salt to the greens. Repeat this until all the greens have wilted. Then splash the wine in and cook until almost all the wine has evaporated, then add pepper and taste it; it may need more seasoning and a little more wine. I try to get as much bitterness out of the green as possible, and the wine helps to sweeten the greens. 

I let greens simmer on low heat while I tend to pasta. I put salt in boiling water before I drop the pasta. Then, I cook pasta for about 10 minutes or until al dente.

IMPORTANT TIP: I like to taste my pasta as it is cooking to see when it has the right bite for me.

Before the pasta is ready, take out about 1/4 cup or more of water and set it aside. I do not like to drain pasta in the colander for this type of recipe. The pasta water helps the sauce bind to the pasta. So, I use a spider skimmer to lift the pasta out of the pot and put it into the sauté pans. I mix the pasta with the green and mushrooms on medium-low heat.  I add about a tablespoon of pasta water to help create the sauce. Then I add the cheese in thirds and mix to melt the cheese. I repeat until the log of cheese is all combined into the pasta. If you feel the sauce is too thick, add more pasta water.  Then once all the cheese is incorporated and melted, it is time to eat.

Final Thought:

I encourage you to try this pasta: I make a lot during the workweek. It is quick and easy. It is one of the meals you can get the ingredients for in almost any grocery store. You only have to clean-up two pots. So, enjoy making this pasta in your mess!

Goat Cheese and Greens Pasta

3 big bunches of greens (kale, curly kale, chard, rainbow chard, collard green, spinach, and arugula) Cleaned and torn into bite-size pieces

2 small onion or 1 medium chopped

2 8 ounce packs of mushrooms (Cremini, baby Bella, white mushrooms, or a combination) sliced.

2 cloves of garlic, cropped

1 10 ounces log of Goat Cheese

2 tablespoons of olive oil

Salt to taste 

Fresh ground pepper to taste

Directions:

Start a pasta pot by boiling water. While waiting for water to boil, heat about two tablespoons of oil in a sauté pan. Then add the onion and a little bit of salt to the pan. It should cook for about 3- 5 minutes or until the onions turn translucent and start to brown.  Add the mushroom and the garlic with a little more salt, cook for 5 minutes or until the mushrooms are soft and liquid has been released from them. Then add the greens in batches to the pan with salt. Wait until the greens start to wilt before adding more greens and salt to the pan. Once all the greens are added to the pan and have wilted. Then, splash the wine in and cook until almost all the wine has evaporated, then add pepper and taste it; it may need more salt and a little more wine.  Turn down the heat of the pan to a lower simmer.  While the greens are simmering, cook the pasta. Before the pasta is ready, take out about 1/4 of a cup of pasta water and set it aside.

Turn up the heat on the pan to medium-low. Then add the pasta to the pan with a tablespoon of pasta water. Mix the greens and pasta and if it looks too dry, add a little more pasta water. Then add 1/3 of the log of goat cheese at a time until all of the goat cheese is melted and the pasta is coated with sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning! Enjoy!