An Italian Favorite
Need a quick delicious meal? And do you have an obsession with garlic and pasta? Oh my friends, then this dish is for you. It is simple, you’ve probably even made it before, but have you added the secret ingredient…
Starchy broth from the cooked pasta.
I don’t know if you’ve heard of this trick before, but it’s one my Mom taught me when she was telling me how to make Nonna’s famous Garlic and Olive Oil Pasta, also known as ‘Aglio Et Olio’. Right when the pasta is done cooking, instead of draining all of that delicious starchy flavoring down the drain, keep some and add it to your sautéed kale and garlic, and let the flavors mix!
Plus, with a dish like this, you can opt out the Kale for Spinach, or perhaps even Collard Greens. And change up the pasta to any type of Spaghetti (gluten free, whole wheat, etc), or even use some elbow pasta 🙂
New Camera, New Projects
Guess what. So these pictures were taken with my old Canon 5D Mark ii (work horse going 7 years strong). Then I bought a Sony a7r ii….and was delighted until they came out with the Sony a7r iii!!! The processing speed was twice as fast, battery life extended dramatically, the image stabilization even better, ISO improved, more robust menu options, everything that was wrong with the a7r ii was fixed in this new version. So I sold my camera and a month later, I am now in possession of a shiny new 42mp (highest quality mirrorless camera on the market) Sony a7r iii!!! I will be doing some new food photography with that, although I think I’m going to need to get some more props and learn more about how to set up a really nice food set up before I will truly be satisfied with the photos I am taking. I haven’t been as invested as I want to be with it because I keep getting pulled into other side projects. Some of them are my fault, others are client based (and I am more than happy to take outside work hehe). I am currently working on 2 major website redesigns, that have tight deadlines. That is why I am up at 3am writing this post, because I was working for 4hrs after Sabbath on one of the websites. I love creativity!
Another project I did with my husband was extend our kitchen counter (after I complained about having no space to work in our tiny apartment galley kitchen). We removed the old desk top, found ikea stainless steel legs to raise the alex drawers, and still needed more height so we bought 2 wooden panels, glued them together, and screwed the legs onto that. Then to hide the gap we ironed laminate tape around the edges. We screwed 2 large heavy duty metal brackets in the center into metal studs, and I bought, cut and painted polyurethane on the counter top from Home Depot and since bought a rubber crumb guard to prevent anything getting in-between the new counter and the original one. You get me? Below are the before and after pictures, as well as my drawing while I was comping my idea up:) I love the way it turned out!! It is now an improved desk and kitchen counter space where both of us can do work at 🙂
I hope you enjoy this easy to put together meal! Anyone can do it:) Until next time!
Ingredients
- 1 Package - Pasta of your choice
- -
- 2-4 Tbsp - Olive Oil
- 1 Head - Kale (or greens of your choice)
- 6 Cloves - Garlic
- 1/2 - Onion
- 1/3 Cup - Frozen Corn
- 1 tsp - Red Pepper Flakes (or less if you are sensitive to spice!)
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to your packages instructions. When finished, leave 1 cup of pasta starch water to add to your garlic and kale pan.
- Meanwhile, chop your onion, garlic and kale (wash your greens first!). Add olive oil and onions to a large pan on medium low heat. Cook for 3 minutes.
- Next add in your garlic and cook 2 minutes.
- Now add in your chopped kale, and sauté for 5 minutes or so. Once the pasta is finished, add in 1 cup or so of your pasta starch water and your frozen corn and bring to a light simmer. Cook until the broth evaporates a bit and gets soaked into the kale, making it softer and easier to chew altogether. Taste the liquid and adjust how much seasoning or oil you want to put into it (keeping in mind, you might need more salt when it gets added in with the pasta).
- Add your pasta to this pan for 1 minute or so, stirring well to coat the pasta in your homemade broth. Turn the heat off, wait until cooled and transfer pasta to a bowl. Slurp up!