Greens & Feta over Polenta

Step One: Mix up some polenta, spread in a pan, cut into squares, let it set up, then brown in a little olive oil - or - cut up a pre-made roll and brown.

Step Two: Start with the barest amount of olive oil, some garlic and diced onions. Saute while you wash and chop the greens (any combo will do, spinach, kale, Swiss chard, collards, even romaine).

Step Three: Add the greens to the saute and cook them to your taste.

Step Four: Spread the greens over the polenta and top with Feta cheese.

Kitchen Sink Pasta

This dish is the epitome of my latest philosophy of cooking; take what you have on hand and make something really good to eat, which is only possible if you keep really good things around, like extra virgin olive oil, good cheeses, fresh herbs, and local vegetables.

First, I set a pot of water to boil for the Ziti, then I started a Vidalia onion and half a red bell pepper, sliced - not too thinly, in a pan with some EVOO over medium high heat

 I cut a small head of romaine into ribbons (this is a good use for lettuce that is starting to dry out a little - as some of the lettuce inevitably does when you get 3 heads a week in your CSA share for several weeks in a row), added that to the pan , and let it cook down. I also threw in one Tofurkey vegetarian Italian sausage sliced lengthwise and then into half moons (strictly optional - this dish would work just fine without it - but it gave a nice flavor).

 One more trip into the fridge yielded some Calamata olives and Feta cheese and I grabbed a can of navy beans from the pantry for some extra protein. I mexed those all in and heated everything through. Always save some cooking water when you drain the pasta - I added some here to moisten things up a little.

 Very tasty! I think it also would have worked well with goat cheese, if that had been in the fridge instead of Feta.  Seems like a lot of "stuff" in one dish, I know - but it all worked well together.

Pasta with Greens, Herbs & Feta

The CSA box has been full of lettuce the past couple of weeks. Lettuce is wonderful, but D. was away for the week and three heads of lettuce is a lot of salad for two people to eat , so I cooked up the Romaine into this modified version of Molly Katzen's Pasta with Greens & Feta.

 I washed and chopped the Romaine ( I triple wash all my greens the same way I do the spinach (see Tofu topped with Spinach and sun dried tomatoes). I think Romaine lettuce has a wonderful flavor when sauteed lightly. Mollie Katzen uses it with Spinach in her recipe, but I decided to let the Romaine solo here.

 Went out on the deck and picked some oregano

 and purple basil

 I sauteed some onions in about 2 tsp olive oil, then added the lettuce and cooked it till it was wilted but still had a little crunch at the center.

 Then I threw in some Feta cheese

 Tossed the veggies with the pasta and some pasta cooking water

 and topped with freshly grated Parmesan

Very simple, quick and easy supper with wonderful flavors.