Baked Rigatoni with Ricotta and Collard Greens

Inspiration:
Cottage Living
and seen on Erin's blog and Food alla Puttanesca


Ingredients:

• 1 (16-ounce) package rigatoni or penne pasta
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 pound collard greens, washed, drained, and chopped
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

1. Prepare pasta according to directions. Drain and set aside. Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease a 13- x 9-inch baking dish.

2. Heat butter in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat; sauté onion 5 minutes or until just brown. Add garlic, and cook about 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium-low, and add greens; cover and cook 15 to 20 minutes or until greens are tender, stirring occasionally.

3. Sprinkle greens with flour. Cook uncovered, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Gradually add milk, stirring well. Cook 5 minutes, stirring often, until thickened and smooth. Remove from heat; stir in cooked pasta, mozzarella, and next 5 ingredients. Place into prepared dish, and sprinkle evenly with Parmesan.

4. Bake at 350° for 15 to 20 minutes.

Notes:
I love cooked collards in pasta, and they hold their shape so much better than cooked spinach, which can become mushy. This would be a nice dish for vegetarians, but if you're an omnivore who eats pork, I'd probably suggest Linguine and Collard Greens with Bacon first. :)


Tim's Rating: 8/10
Liz's Rating: 8/10

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.")