Spaghetti with Beans and Greens

This pasta dish is my go-to for leafy greens that are about to go bad. Maybe they already went bad, that’s fine too, you can’t taste it!

Chard is my favorite veg to use in this pasta dish, because the stems have a nice bite and add texture, but any dark leafy green will work.

You’ll want to start with a pan large enough to braise your greens and eventually add the spaghetti to, but if you don’t have one of those, just mix the dish together in a large bowl. And no, you don’t need to use spaghetti — any pasta works! Sometimes I’ll use wholegrain or legume pasta, just to keep it healthy.

There’s plenty of room for improv here, but below is my favorite method for making spaghetti with beans and greens, give it a go:

Ingredients:

5 cloves garlic, chopped

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 bunch rainbow chard (or similar)

1/2 cup red wine (whatever you like to drink while cooking…)

1 can white beans, rinsed (your preferred type!)

10 oz spaghetti (about 2/3 of a box…)

Parmesan cheese, grated (optional)

Salt and pepper

Red chili flakes (optional, but encouraged).

Method:

Wash and chard and shake dry. Chop off off rough ends (about 1/4”) and then chop the stem into half-inch pieces. Cut the leaves into one-inch pieces and keep separate. Heat oil in a skillet, once its warm, lower heat and add garlic, stir and let sit until it’s fragrant (but not burning). Stir in the chard stems and let cook for about five minutes, or until they start to soften.

Stir in the leaves, add salt and pepper, stir and let cook for 10 minutes. Stir in red wine and chili flakes, if desired (you can add them later too!) and cover the pan, letting the greens braise for the next 45 minutes. Now you have time to drink that open bottle!

When you look at your greens again, they should be dark and shrunk. “Honey, I shrunk the vegetables,” is a nice response. Stir in the white beans, cover again. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add spaghetti, and cook until al dente (two minutes less than cook time, harder than you’d want to eat).

Using tongs, transfer spaghetti into the pan with the greens and. Stirring to incorporate. Add half a cup of pasta water, plus a little more, if necessary, to get the pan sauce to coat the noodles. Plate it all together, shave on some hard cheese, sprinkle with breadcrumbs if you’re a carbs on carbs person and devour.