CSA week one, day six

I'm down to the bare bones. I'm scraping the bottom of the CSA box. I have a half bunch of swiss chard, a half a head of cabbage, a bunch of beet greens, and a single green onion.

The swiss chard is looking like a country music star's hair after the show-sad and flat-so I decided I better go ahead and just use it so I sauteed with with some olive oil and garlic and stuffed it inside a pita with some hummus for lunch. Pretty good. I believe it's always nice to add produce whenever possible even if it's hiding it in a pita with hummus. By the way, Trader Joe's Mediterranean Hummus is so EFFING good that I don't care if it was made in Tibet by 3 year olds who were only paid 6 cents an hour and it was trucked from the moon and back in Hummers and was responsible for the BP oil spill, I am still buying and eating it. Bye-bye swiss chard, say hello to my belly.

Tonight my husband and I had some friends over for dinner so we decided to make our pasta with beet greens. The original posting for this recipe can be found in July of 2009.

Chicken Rigatoni

1 large chicken breast
1/2 pound rigatoni pasta
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup chicken stock
1 pinch red pepper flake (or to taste)
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 large bunch beet greens with stems
1 medium onion sliced thinly
2 ounces pancetta diced small
parmigiana or Romano cheese for grating

Brown the pancetta and remove from the pan. Brown the chicken in the pancetta drippings (add olive oil if needed) and remove. Cook the onions until they start to soften and add the garlic and saute for a couple minutes more. Add the wine and reduce by half. Add the chicken stock, red pepper flake, and beet green stems and bring to a simmer. For a thicker sauce, sift in a tablespoon or two of flour and wisk well. Add chicken and pancetta back and simmer for a few minutes and then taste for seasoning. Allow to simmer for five to ten minutes. In the last couple minutes stir in the beet greens. Serve with plenty of cheese grated on top.

We tripled the above recipe tonight. We've also made it with swiss chard or spinach instead of beet greens but beet greens are my favorite because of the sweet stems.

We served this with a fresh green salad with apples and brie and garlic bread.

The Results: Fantastic as usual. This pasta is such a crowd pleaser. The flavors are familiar and accessible but just a touch exotic with the use of beet greens. This is one of my favorite meals so it gets an A+.

The Breakdown: The beet greens were from the CSA. I got the pasta from a local store Nicole Taylor's Pasta Market, so I'll count it as local since I'm supporting a local business. The chicken stock is homemade from local chickens, the apples and salad greens were from the farmer's market. I purchased the pancetta, chicken breasts, onions, brie, garlic, white wine, and bread from the grocery store. I get a C on this meal for buying local.

Just in case you aren't keeping track, I only have a single green onion and half a head of cabbage left. I pick up my next CSA box tomorrow. It's like my birthday but it happens every week.