Pasta with Garlicky Kale, Fried Eggs and Cornbread Crumbs
Hello! Again. I may have mentioned, we were out in Tofino, where construction on a new bike path disconnected our internet cable. Which meant a lot of hanging out in coffee shops and restaurants and rainy parking lots, trolling for wireless connections. When we had already eaten dinner and had far too much coffee, it became habit each evening for me to go park out behind the Shelter to do what needed doing – even streamlined, the wireless requirements piled up. Which is all to say that when I did have a connection, it was used to send files or book things or answer emails or resize photos or get stories researched or submitted, and keep up with my posts over at Babble (as I’m contractually obligated to) – and you guys wound up getting the shaft. Sorry.
And I’ve so badly wanted to tell you about this pasta. In other (related) news, I read a book this week. By halfway through I wanted to start again at the beginning. In An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace, Tamar Adler had me riveted with the idea of boiling vegetables! Letting them pale! And not just utilizing leftovers, but intentionally creating them! Riveting stuff for those of us who would choose how to poach an egg for our bedtime reading. It’s a must read for anyone who eats, and particularly for those who don’t have someone in their employ to cook for them.
Tamar approaches food from a standpoint not of what recipe do I want to make and do I have the ingredients to assemble said recipe, but what do I have, what’s available or in season, and how do I prepare it so that it tastes good? And further, how do I use those bits that might otherwise be tossed? Because stale bread and cilantro stems are food too. Every page has a snippet or two or three that I want to highlight or post-it or quote or tweet. You should probably just read it yourself – it would be much easier.
This wasn’t dinner tonight (by dinnertime we were still digesting porchetta sandwiches from Meat & Bread), but was a few days ago. Luckily I had a head of kale (brought in the car from Calgary – waste not) and distracting thoughts of what it might be like to cook pasta in seawater. And a chunk of cornbread from SoBo that my totally out-there mind thought would work as breadcrumbs. (They did – but without an oven they had to be toasted in a bit of butter and oil in a skillet on the stovetop. Which was just fine.) It’s often said that enough salt must be added to a pot of water destined to cook pasta to make it taste like seawater. Here I was cooking down seawater to make salt – it seemed a bit ridiculous to add a small handful of it back to the water on my stove. So I poured a jar of seawater through my coffee filter into the cooking pot – and nervously added about as much tap water, considering I was getting almost a quarter cup of salt per litre or so. Still, all the salt you add to pasta water doesn’t actually make it into the pasta, but it does effectively season it. I think this is why restaurant food tends to taste so much better – they just know how to properly season. Most often its not the fancy bouquet garni or exotic herbs and spices, but just enough salt.
So I cooked down the kale with olive oil and garlic, and tossed it with pasta and more oil, some saved starchy pasta water, the grated heel of a chunk of grizzly Gouda (also toted from home), and topped each bowl with cornbread crumbs and a marigold-yolked egg from Nanoose Bay. (Here, a good egg makes all the difference in the world.)
The whole point is to cook, to create and taste and make ingredients into something better and more edible than they were when you brought them home from the market or store. But. Every time I do a post where I say I did this and this and this, and got this! I get comments and emails saying that’s all well and good, but WHERE’S THE RECIPE? You don’t always need one, laid out in cups and teaspoons and point-form directions. I often say that although I write recipes for a living, I think having a recipe often stifles those delicious creative juices and can prevent people from actually cooking. Who follows a recipe every night of the week? It’s not always about having a half teaspoon of oregano or cooking an onion for 5-6 minutes, it’s ideas and techniques that help get a good meal on the table. It’s trying this and that and seeing how it goes for you.
So if you’re confident in your pasta-making abilities – and even (especially) if you’re not – go, do. Here’s a semblance of a recipe if you need one. (No hard feelings.)
Pasta with Poached Eggs and Garlicky Kale for Two
enough pasta – spaghetti, fettuccine or linguine – for two
olive and/or canola oil, for cooking
kale, roughly chopped (pull out the stems first)
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 good eggs
a handful of grated aged Gouda (such as Grizzly Gouda) or Parmesan
toasted breadcrumbs (I used crumbled cornbread) – optional
freshly ground black pepperIn a large pot of heavily salted water, cook the pasta according to the package directions. Remove a cup of its cooking liquid before draining.
Meanwhile, heat a generous drizzle of oil in a large skillet set over medium-high heat. Add the kale and cook for a few minutes, until it begins to wilt. Add the garlic and a splash of water (a couple tablespoonfuls), cover and cook for 2-3 minutes, then remove the lid and cook until the excess liquid has cooked off and the kale is tender.
Push the kale aside in the pan and add another skiff of oil to the empty side. Crack two eggs into it and cook them sunny-side-up or over easy, leaving the yolks runny enough to help dress the pasta when they break.
When the pasta has drained, transfer it to a shallow bowl (or two) and drizzle with oil, and add the grated cheese. Toss with tongs, adding a splash of hot pasta water until the mixture is saucy and well coated. Add the kale and quickly toss it in, then divide between bowls and top with an egg, crispy breadcrumbs and a good grinding of black pepper. Serve immediately.
Serves 2ish.
April 05 2012 11:27 pm | pasta
emmycooks on 06 Apr 2012 at 1:00 am #
This is my favorite kind of meal. And my favorite kind of recipe!
Jan @ Family Bites on 06 Apr 2012 at 6:53 am #
Everything about this post explains why I like you so much.
I ordered the book two days ago – we can discuss it at our next “coffee date”!
Kindra on 06 Apr 2012 at 8:49 am #
Julie I love being inspired by you to “use what you have” to create meals. Since I am a meal planner, I really truly was cooking from recipes every night of the week because I loved to try new things. You inspired me a long time ago to use my instincts and use up what’s in my fridge to create meals which has totally transformed my meal planning. I still use recipes, but not as often. I love posts like this where you describe why you threw this and that together (and your cobbled together “recipe” afterwards). Thanks for inspiring!
And I totally want to check out that book now!
Sharon @ Red Poppy | Pink Peony on 06 Apr 2012 at 8:54 am #
Wow. This looks incredibly delicious!
Kathi on 06 Apr 2012 at 9:01 am #
I think I’m going to try this for breakfast. I love greens and eggs together – looks yummy!
Cathy N on 06 Apr 2012 at 1:43 pm #
Oh yes… I knew we were soulmates! I do the same thing with stuff that is in my fridge… the only problem is that B,my hubby, always wants me to replicate these dishes instead of creating new ones all the time. His biggest complaint is that we never have anything twice- not such a bad way to be I say!
Oh, and cooking in sea water… yup that’s all I was able to use when sailing out on the high seas for months on end. No filtering either! I loved knowing that whenever I needed to add salt I had an unlimited supply of the stuff
Carol S-B on 06 Apr 2012 at 2:22 pm #
A resounding, “Yes!” from me. I love this kind of ‘recipe’. I also get how a less confident cook would need the quantities; at least, the first time through.
But, dear Julie, keep encouraging folks to just cook. Just go and do it.
Cooking is such a wonderful immersion in senses: the scent of green kale and the feeling of the stems snapping in your hands, the steam in the air from the pasta pot warming and making the skin on your face feel pleasantly dewy. The look of the greens as they intensify in colour; the look of the pasta as it goes from translucent to opaque.
You just “Go and do!” and these things all have meaning: yes, this kale is almost done. Yes, I can drain the pasta now. And the grand finale, when the ‘soul of the pot’ (that perfect moment of doneness, salt, savoury and umami) meets your mouth… almost makes you want to cook every day! (Hey, wait a minute…)
It takes time to reach this point of confidence. It takes a lot of ‘just doing’.
A recipe like this lets people know it’s OK to not be all “half teaspoon” about the whole thing.
Kathy on 06 Apr 2012 at 2:53 pm #
I am extremely fond of saying ” a recipe is just a guideline.” which drives my detail-oriented, follow-it-to-the-letter husband nuts!
Renee on 06 Apr 2012 at 4:00 pm #
Tamar’s book is next on my list of must-reads, once I finish this crazy good murder mystery. One of the first things I learned in NAIT all those years ago was about how important it is to taste your food, and add the proper amount of salt. Your seawater pasta trick sounds pretty cool!
Happy Geek on 06 Apr 2012 at 6:59 pm #
I’ve been chief cook for 16 years. It has only been in the last 5 or so that I have begun to experiment away from the standards my mom and mother in law always made and only in the last 2 that I have begun to trust myself as a cook.
I still use recipes a lot, but if I don’t have something or don’t like something, I finally feel comfortable enough to change it. And it usually still tastes great. Especially with just a bit more garlic.
sonja on 07 Apr 2012 at 9:40 pm #
I dream about SoBo
Love thats place !!
ester on 08 Apr 2012 at 10:58 am #
I was shocked how my cooking flourished after reading Tamar Adler. I love your posts and have used many of your recipes and they always turned into great meals but what is so empowering about An Everlasting Meal? One element I think is the removal of the need to have everything. To get the million ingredients or that special exotic ingredient that we are not even familiar or have any connection with. She talks about getting closer to the food. To whatever is in the pantry or the fridge. And elevate it to its fullest potential. This is an art that was common before and has almost been lost. It seems funny that we go out of our way to make peasant food or rustic dishes when those dishes originated from leftovers or whatever was available to the cook. Coooking like that should be everyday cooking. We can always have special days that we get a special recipe out. It is amazing to get connected to the food we have and work a recipe from the heart and the senses. We are blessed with such abundance that we can eat like kings and queens. It is nice to see that even peasants did and do eat well when the ingredients are used to their fullest potential. Feast on!
Erica B. on 08 Apr 2012 at 1:42 pm #
Delicious & inspiring as always. Happy Easter to you & your family Julie!
molly on 08 Apr 2012 at 7:59 pm #
Adler’s book is an astonishment, isn’t it? I decided against highlighting anything around page 2, or else the entire thing would be yellow.
Brilliant, this.
Kristy Lynn @ Gastronomical Sovereignty on 09 Apr 2012 at 6:17 pm #
in love. pinning and bookmarking.
p.s. i adore your philosophy on cooking. Sometimes, ya just gotta wing it.
Lana on 10 Apr 2012 at 8:22 am #
I am absolutely going to look into this book. My sister and I were just talking about cooking economically and with leftovers as we both work out of the home and then get home needing to feed our families. I will send to her as well!
Jo-Ann on 11 Apr 2012 at 7:00 pm #
Thanks Julie – I made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious! I could not believe home much flavour was in the dish with such few ingredients. As for cooking from your fridge Friday night is Pizza Night in my home. I make my own dough and use up all of the leftover chicken breasts and veggies. It also helps me clean out the fridge and make way for my grocery shopping on the weekend.
Thanks again Julie!
Ginny on 06 Jun 2012 at 10:43 am #
I actually made this last night! I only stumbled on yor blog because I was Googling to see if anyone else had ever thought of it. Of course. There’s nothing new under the sun.
But the interesting thing is the whole idea sprang from exactly what you’re talking about here. I needed something to come together FAST, and I needed to use up what I had. Kale. Whole wheat pasta. Eggs. Parm. Smidge of chicken sausage. Sauerkraut. Yep, I didn’t think of breadcrumbs, but I did have about a half pint of home fermented kraut that I was itching to use. It was absolutely lovely. I would say I will make it again…but I rarely revisit recipes exactly, as I am so often “shooting from the hip.” 