Nick o' Time Kale

One thing I'm quickly learning about CSAs is that you have to use your veggies pretty quickly, since they're coming fresh from a farm without all of the preservatives and chemicals you'll find on grocery store produce. So by midweek, you'd better have used everything or have a plan to preserve it. Last night I used up both my kale and swiss chard, in two different dishes. For the chard, I used a favourite recipe to quickly prepare it for a later meal (most likely a nice large lunch on Saturday). Where the kale was concerned, I modified a recipe I found online to use up all of the kale and some other ingredients I had laying around in the fridge & pantry.

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Nick o' Time Kale with Andouille Chicken Sausage
Modified from the Kitchn's recipe.

1 pound pasta - I used cavatappi
2-3 links of andouille chicken sausage
1 tbsp Olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1 large bunch of *WELL-RINSED* kale torn into bite-sized shreds (no stems!)
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan or Pecorino

Heat a large pot of salted water to boiling and cook the pasta until al dente, draining and reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Return the pasta to the pot and set aside.

Now, while the pasta is cooking, begin by cutting the chicken sausage into bite-sized pieces while you heat the olive oil over medium high heat in a large sauté pan (I used my trusty wok for the job). Add the chicken sausage to the oil and let it brown a bit on both sides; if you're using raw sausage, make sure it's cooked through. (I was using Trader Joe's pre-cooked chicken sausage, so I only needed to cook it for a couple of minutes.) Add the garlic and red pepper and cook until garlic has softened a bit.

Add the kale, broth, and white wine. Cover and simmer for about 7 minutes, until the kale is wilted and tender. Stir to make sure the garlic, chicken sausage, etc. are well-distributed in the pan.



Remove from heat and add the cooked pasta to the pan, mixing well. Add the Parmesan and reserved pasta water and stir well, adding salt and fresh pepper to taste.