It may also have come to your attention that we've seen quite a bit of kale this month. I promise I'm not trying to be trendy. Rather, kale has come in my recent vegetable box deliveries. When you have a whole bunch of kale to use, and the only other person in your houses professes to dislike it...well you get creative with its possible uses. (Mind you, this is not so very creative. Johanna was doing it back in 2009!)
Happily, the kale in this dish got past Mr Bite with no problem at all. I actually had to ask if he had noticed the green component, after he failed to comment on it and ate it all with apparent pleasure. He usually spots one single pea in a dish of varied ingredients, so this was as unexpected as it was delightful. If you ever have need to disguise kale, I can recommend this dish!
I had my share of this with chickpeas, but the protein component can easily be customised. Mr B had tuna, and lentils come to mind as a great legume alternative. Pine nuts could work too.
Tomato and kale spaghetti with chickpeas
Serves 3
Vegan, quick, and satisfying
Ingredients
Drizzle of olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 capsicum, diced
2-3 cups of kale, roughly chopped
1 400g tin diced tomatoes
1-2 tsp dried basil
1-2 tsp dried oregano
~200g dry spaghetti
1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas, or protein source of choice
Salt and pepper, to taste
Method
In a non-stick pan, heat the oil and then saute the onion and garlic until lightly golden. Add the capsicum and cook until soft. Add the kale, tinned tomatoes, basil and oregano, reduce heat to low and simmer for at least 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Cook spaghetti according to packet instructions, drain, and then add the tomato-kale mix and chickpeas to the saucepan with the spaghetti. Heat through, add salt and pepper to taste, and serve.
Submitted to Healthy Vegan Friday #66.
Are there dishes that you used to cook rarely, but now find yourself making regularly?
I love pasta because it usually is so quick and easy to put together and something the whole family will eat (except the uni students who are off carbs as usual!) But I love it and this kale pasta looks really good and full of flavour and very good for you and inexpensive too so it ticks all of my boxes xx
ReplyDeleteQuick, easy and inexpensive are winning elements for me too :-) Perhaps the uni students will come around when they are in their own places and those things become more important!
Deletethis looks great (I might have been cooking kale in 2009 but haven't had it with pasta for ages - which is bad!) actually I noticed that all your recipes are long pasta recipes so I need to come here for long pasta inspiration.
ReplyDeleteMy ingredient that I never ever knew existed and now use all the time is smoked paprika - food of the gods - there is very little I am not tempted to add a dash to - am sure a dash would be lovely in your pasta sauce :-)
Mr Bite's signature dish is made with short spiral pasta so that may be why I rarely feature it ;)
DeleteThis would have been excellent with smoked paprika and now I really wish I'd thrown some in! I use it quite regularly but for some reason forgot it here.
I rarely cook pasta for some reason. I think in my head I associate it with boring food but it doesn't have to be the case at all! This looks really scrummy, extra good with kale in my opinion :)
ReplyDeleteYou've reminded me I still need to try your cumin-spiced tomato & split-pea sauce. I'll probably serve it over quinoa though.
I associate it with boring too which I think is why it took so long for me to get into using it ;) But you're right, it doesn't have to be! And when I can throw kale in, all the better...
DeleteHave you tried slipping that single pea beneath your mattress? Could be your husband is royalty.
ReplyDeleteI so desperately wanted to get a princess reference into this post, but my brain was not cooperating. Thank you for letting me have it in the comments at least ;)
DeleteWhat a delicious and healthy dish! I really need to concentrate on geting all of these health rich vegetables in my diet more... Kalle only gets turned into chips at my place :0!
ReplyDeleteoops, love your recipes, they do make me try to be better :)
I haven't mastered kale chips but that would be a good way to get through a whole bunch easily! We can learn from each other :-)
Deleteoh yay a new way to use up my kale! Looks delicious too!
ReplyDeleteI can generally get the.boy to eat veggies when I stuff them in pasta! I know we'd both adore this!
ReplyDeletePasta is pretty wonderful as a medium of disguise ;)
DeleteThis spaghetti looks fab - the chickpeas would really help to make it meaty, and tomato sauce is a classic.
ReplyDeleteHaha! You're way too cute, Kari ;). I've been "sneaking" kale into various dishes in an attempt to get Tim to start appreciating one of my favorite greens. I still have a lot of work to do..but one of these days, he's going to start craving it…so I tell myself. I love all your pasta dishes. So creative. I'm def going to make this soon! Hope you are doing well, Kari! I've been super busy lately and am def looking forward to theThanksgiving holiday. I get a whole week off! Woohoo! ;)
ReplyDeleteTim and Mr Bite would probably have lots to discuss if we ever got them together ;) And I hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving! You are definitely overdue that week off I think!
DeleteWe go in food phases. The last few months we've had a major phase of kale pasta with tahini and garlic dressing. Andy invented it by basically adding pasta to the recipe for Garlicky Kale with Tahini Dressing from Vegan with a Vengeance, and then tweaking it here and there. The slightly bitter tahini works really well against the kale, and the pasta makes it a meal instead of a side dish. Unfortunately our kale is probably on the way out - too many caterpillars :(
ReplyDelete