Monday, June 23, 2008

Linguine and Collard Greens with Bacon

Inspiration:
So I had collard greens from our CSA, and I was going to cook them "Brazilian style" (a Mark Bittman recipe) to go along with some pork burgers that my friend Helen and I picked up at the farmers market. Well luckily today at work I mentioned my dinner to her, and she told me that my "pork burgers" were actually breakfast sausage patties. Hmmm. I am glad I found out before I served Tim breakfast sausage on a bun with condiments. (Thanks Helen!) So I scrambled for a way to use up my collard greens and found this recipe from Gourmet.

Ingredients:
  • 10 bacon slices (1/2 lb), chopped
  • 3/4 cup pine nuts (1/4 lb)
  • 1/4 lb shallots, finely chopped (3/4 cup)
  • 6 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes (heaping teaspoon if you like spicy food, less if you don't)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 lb collard greens, stems and center ribs discarded and leaves chopped
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 lb dried whole wheat linguine
  • 1 lb grape or cherry tomatoes, quartered
  • 1 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano shavings, made with a vegetable peeler from a 6-to 8-oz wedge
Instructions:
  1. Cook bacon in a 5-quart heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp, about 5 minutes, then transfer with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain. Pour off all but 3 tablespoons bacon fat from pot. Add pine nuts to pot and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until golden, about 2 minutes. Transfer nuts with slotted spoon to paper towels to drain and season with salt.
  2. Add shallots to pot and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until softened, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add oil and half of collard greens and cook, stirring, until slightly wilted, about 1 minute. Add remaining greens and salt and continue to cook, stirring, until greens are crisp-tender, about 2 minutes more. Add water and cover pot, then simmer greens, stirring occasionally, until just tender, about 15 minutes.
  3. While collard greens are simmering, cook linguine in a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling salted water until al dente.
  4. Drain linguine in a colander. Add drained linguine and tomatoes to pot with greens and cook over moderately high heat, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Season pasta with salt and pepper and serve topped with bacon, pine nuts, and cheese shavings.

Recipe Notes:
Active time: 50 min Start to finish: 50 min
Servings: Makes 4 to 6 main-course servings.

My Notes: The richness of the bacon, pine nuts and cheese pairs well with the bitterness of the collard greens. This is a different kind of recipe, but it's good!

Liz's Rating: 9/10
Tim's Rating: 9.5/10
("Well having bacon in it gives it an extra point. I really like it.")

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Oooh yuM! Spicy pasta with collards! LOVE the combo! We'll have to try this.