I cooked an autumn-flavored pasta sauce.
And I found it so good that I thought of sharing the recipe.
While grapes and bacon are sautéing in the pan, I quickly blanch the kale in the same water where I will cook the pasta. I chop it up and then add it to the other ingredients.
Finally, I toast the walnuts, which I will put on top of the pasta before serving.
After a long day at work, coming home and eating a ready meal seems the best thing. Above all, if you don’t like to cook. And if you think about food as just a necessary nourishment.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t conceive of the idea of living a purely functional life-all rationality and practicality reflected even in what I eat.
The small gestures that mitigate the edges of daily living are necessary.
Even a dish, no matter how simple, is a way to take care of me and escape the tasteless monotony of functionality.
What is food to you?
Between functional and comfort food recipes, there is another category.
There are recipes for staying well that you can easily include in your daily menu.
But why should you cook if you don’t like cooking or don’t have the time?
Friends who follow a functional diet see the body as a machine and food as mere fuel.
Food that makes you feel good does not make you fat, and its preparation requires little effort, for instance, reheating or defrosting. Between preparing and eating the meal, it often takes only 10 minutes.
And yet. We are not machines.
You don’t have to become an expert or a lover of the art of cooking. You have to do it for yourself and your health. What food to eat is one of the most crucial choices we make for ourselves and the planet. Delegating the preparation of your meals to others means not knowing what you are eating.
Start with an ingredient you like, choose a simple recipe, buy the food, and plan when to cook.
Then sit down at the table and enjoy the dish, taking time for yourself.
Maybe it’s a half hour but don’t you think you deserve it?
The recipe
White grape, black cabbage, bacon. I take some walnuts from the basket.
I would like to make a sauce but then opt for a quicker solution, shell, and toast.
Tip: If you like a creamy sauce, put the parmesan cheese in a cup, add -a little at a time- a ladleful of pasta cooking water, stir and before the sauce, toss the pasta with this cream.
I ate the dish savoring each forkful, enjoying the ray of sunshine that accompanied the meal.
Take care of yourself.
Buona cucina, Monica
Cook with me
If you are looking for more ideas for healthy and quick pasta seasoning, HERE is a recipe for an aromatic pesto that takes little time but gives great satisfaction.
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Grape kale bacon walnut pasta
serves 4
List of the Ingredients
pasta, 240g
shallot, 1
white seedless grapes, 30 grains
bacon, 150g
walnuts, 10
grated Parmigiano Reggiano, 50g
black cabbage, a couple of leaves
butter and olive oil to taste.
Direction
Wash the grapes and kale. Remove the center rib of the cabbage and keep it aside.
Clean and finely chop one shallot. Place it in a pan with olive oil and butter and cook it gently.
Cut just some of the grapes in half, and add them in.
Continue to cook on a low flame for a couple of minutes before adding the bacon.
Meanwhile, bring to boil the water for the pasta, which you will also use to blanch the kale leaves for two minutes. Using tongs, remove the kale leaves from the boiling water, and add the coarse salt and pasta.
Cool the kale under running water, chop it with a knife, and put it in the pan with the other dressing ingredients. Add a ladleful of pasta cooking water, stir and turn off.
Drain the pasta al dente and toss it in the pan.
Tip for a creamy sauce: put the parmesan cheese in a cup, add a little of the pasta cooking water, and stir.
