This is a simple, tasty, and often-used recipe in our house hold. Most of the things are on-hand at all times, it takes just minutes to prepare, minimal mess (1 pot, chopping board, + bowl) and tastes good the next day.
Ingredients
- 3 medium cloves garlic, peeled, nasty bits chopped off
- a big pinch of salt (like 1/8 t for some people who ask for very specific sizes – hi Sharna!)
- 2T – 4T olive oil (we prefer a little smaller, but vary on your own oil tastes; ours is better of course)
- 2 T harissa paste
- 8 oz (1/2#) whole wheat spaghetti (or whatever variant) – the Whole Foods 365 brand is what we usually use for this, but anything works, unless, of course, it isn’t whole wheat pasta 🙂
- 1 small bunch of kale, washed and de-veined (it is usually muddy)
- handful of oil-cured black olives (2T?) – we vary by how salty the olives are, sometimes just a tablespoon, sometimes 2, but we like our food less salty (we are pirate-y enough)
- 1/2 C pine nuts
- zest of 1 lemon OR 1-2t preserved lemon
- Medium sized pot, like 3 quart
- Toast the pine nuts in the pot until lightly golden, then put in one of the bowls or plates you will use to serve.
- Fill the pot with water and bring to a boil.
- While the pot is heating, chop the garlic fine. Add the salt and crush the salt in with the garlic. Repeat the chop/crush routine until it is a paste. It is at your mercy. Show none.
- Mix the paste, harissa and olive oil to the paste in a small bowl.
- Cook the pasta in the water almost to the end of what it asks in the instructions (8-10 min). You can add a pinch of salt to the water to bring out the pasta flavor.
- Add the kale to the water for 6 seconds, drain.
- Heat half o the harissa / garlic mixture in the pot. I like to let it sizzle a little bit, but you can just heat it if you want a more garlic flavor.
- Add the pasta, kale, olives and lemon zest. Stir to heat everything up, then plate. Add the rest of the harissa/garlic on the top, sprinkled with pine nuts.
Serves 4 small eaters, or 2 for dinner + 1 lunch.