We’ve got loads of collard greens, bok choy, rainbow chard, red russian kale and spinach in the garden this year. It’s a good thing we love greens, because we’ve been eating them almost every day.  Usually I sauté them with garlic and we have them as a side dish. But I’ve also added them to stir fry, made swiss chard tacos (copied from Hugo’s in Houston), and added them to casseroles, soup and pasta dishes.

Tonight, we had  collard greens with pasta and goat cheese. It was really tasty, so I took a picture and decided to write down the recipe, for once. We often have “Pasta with Whatever’s Available” and although I read recipes for ideas, I seldom follow a recipe. One of the disadvantages of not using a recipe is that when something comes out really great, it’s pretty hard  to repeat.

So, for the first time ever, I’m writing down the recipe for “Pasta with Greens and Goat Cheese.”

Pasta with Greens and Goat Cheese

• olive oil
• 1 vidalia onion, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup pine nuts
• about 6 cups of fresh collard greens (a couple of bunches from the grocery store)
• about a dozen sun dried tomato halves
• 8 ounces whole wheat penne, or ziti or shells or whatever shape you have on hand that’s not strand-like
• 4 ounces organic or local goat cheese
• red chili pepper flakes
• salt and pepper

1. Put the dried tomatoes in a small bowl and add boiling water to cover. Let them soak while you’re doing the other steps.

2. Heat the olive oil on medium heat  in a 10 inch stainless All-Clad sauté pan.  (Maybe they’ll send  a free one for the promo?)

3. Add the onions and cook on low heat. Stir occasionally.

4. While the onions are caramelizing, clean and chop the greens.

5. Bring a big pot of water to boil and add the clean, chopped greens.

6. Boil the greens from 3 to 10  minutes. The time depends on their size and how fresh they are. You have to taste them to determine when they are done. They should be tender and bright green,  not mushy and dark green.Garden fresh, young greens don’t take long at all. Skip this altogether with baby greens. Stir those onions while the greens are cooking.

7.  Gently toast the pine nuts in a small skillet over medium heat while the greens are cooking and the onions are caramelizing. Stir often. Set a timer for 5 minutes so you don’t forget them. Toasting pine nuts without burning them is the hardest part of this recipe. They are expensive and I’ve burned far too many pine nuts in my life. Toasting pine nuts on the stove is like making toast in a broiler. Do not walk away. Take them off the stove as soon as you can smell them. They should be golden brown.

8. When the greens are done, scoop them out of the pot with one of those chinese strainer things that I don’t know the name of. Add the greens to a colandar to drain. This way you save the water you cooked the greens in. This is going to be your pasta water. Stir the onions again.

9. Drain and chop the dried tomatoes.

10. Return the water you cooked the green in to a boil and add the pasta, cook it al dente.

11. While the pasta is cooking add the greens, pine nuts, pepper flakes and tomatoes to the onion and garlic mixture. Stir and continue to cook over low heat to combine.

12. Remove  the greens and onion mixture  from heat and add the al dente pasta, along with about a quarter cup of the pasta water.

13. Add the goat cheese and stir it all up. Add salt and pepper to taste. I didn’t add any salt this time because both the tomatoes and the goat cheese were salty.

It looks better in real life, but at least it doesn’t look as bad as the Indian food I tried to take a  picture of that time. We’re having that tomorrow night. I won’t get out the camera.