Weeknight Experiment: Pasta with Kale and Meatballs

04.24.2013

Weeknight Experiment: Pasta with Kale and Meatballs

Dinner Recipes, Healthy Kitchenability, Recipes

pasta with kale and meatballs

Everyone has that weeknight conundrum where what to make for dinner simply eludes us. That happened to me the other night, but out of the confusion sprung inspiration, and I ended up making this highly experimental pasta kale dish that I guess I’ll dub with the ever-so-creative title: Pasta with Kale and Meatballs.

I cooked with my favorite four-legged companion by my side, Archer. He loves laying down on the kitchen floor alongside me while I cook. I want to say it’s because he loves me ever-so-much, but we all know he’s secretly hoping I’ll drop a tasty treat or two.

This is how it all went down: I saw we had kale in the fridge, which is one of my all-time favorite super food veggies. (If you haven’t tried my Kale Chips Recipe, you must!) And, I had frozen meatballs in the freezer and few other essential items: pasta, canned pasta sauce, diced tomatoes and ricotta.

I decided to put everything in a pot and see what happened, whilst listening to my favorite Mumford & Sons Pandora station and sipping wine.

First, I sauteed the frozen meatballs and set them aside. Then, I poured the pasta sauce into the pot, and added some Italian diced tomatoes and red pepper flakes to give the sauce more of a kick.

I then cut the kale leaves away from the stem and added them to the sauce. Once the kale was cooked, I added in the meatballs.

In a separate pot, I boiled the pasta and drained it. (I then refilled my glass of wine, turned up the music a bit and gave Archer a little treat.) Once the pasta was done, I poured it into the pot with the sauce, veggies and meatballs and added two spoonfuls of ricotta cheese.

The results were amazing! It is slightly spicy, healthy, and delicious. And, it can be remixed to make it your own by experimenting with different pastas and veggies.

This is truly what Kitchenability is all about — working with what you have!

[yumprint-recipe id=’8′]