Cook-ING: Fridge-clean-out pasta

This installment of Cook-ING was originally written for the NSFP Spring 2024 Volume 2 print edition. References to “ending the semester” are due to this initial publication timing.

Welcome to Cook-ING, a biweekly series where writer Ingrid Doubleday (Ingrid, ING, get it?) shares recipe ideas and reviews, meal-prepping tips, dinner party plans, and other fun cooking-related tidbits, stories, and snacks.

This week, we’ll be clean-ING out our fridges and cook-ING up a delicious lemony, garlicky, green pasta. I’m in my final semester here at Lang and working away on my thesis, and with everything going on, I keep finding myself buying fresh produce at the grocery and then forgetting about it in my fridge (I’m sure this has happened to all of you busy Narwhals before as well). 

When I go to cook dinner, I end up staring into the abyss of my fridge and cabinets for 20 minutes at all these random items — three bites of takeout from two nights ago, a bunch of wilting greens on the verge of turning brown, a head of garlic that’s starting to sprout, a can of chickpeas from who knows when, and some random cheese that I had big plans for and now can’t quite remember where exactly I found the recipe that needed it. When this happens to me, I turn to that trusty box of pasta always sitting on the top shelf of my cabinet, grab my random leftovers, and make a sauce.

Some people turn to rice or grains as a base to build a meal, but I always fall back on pasta when I don’t know what to cook. It’s so easy to make a quick and yummy meal with the random veggies, proteins, assorted bits and bobs in your fridge, and some pasta. The recipe we’re cook-ING this week is an uncomplicated sauce that uses up those random ingredients, or that can be easily adapted to use what you have. (Or, just buy these and try it out this way!)

For this particular version of fridge-clean-out pasta, I was inspired by the colors and fresh flavors of spring. I leaned into bright green and light pink, an iconic spring duo — a garlicky, lemony green for the sauce and a cute, refreshing sparkling pink drink. To get started, all you need is a pot and pan, a blender, and a box of pasta.

Ingredients:

• 1 package of pasta
• 1 bunch of kale
• 1 leek
• 4 cloves of garlic
• ½ a lemon
• ½ cup of mascarpone
• Olive oil
• Salt, pepper, chili flakes

Instructions:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, and cook pasta according to the package directions. When you drain the pasta, save some of the water in a cup. We’ll use it in our sauce.
2. Prepare your vegetables by washing and rough chopping them. We’ll blend the sauce, so don’t worry about cutting things perfectly or precisely. For this particular version, I chopped my kale, thinly sliced my leek, and quartered my garlic cloves.
3. Cook your greens. Add your kale and about a ½ cup of water to your pan over medium heat. Cook covered (to create steam which will soften the leaves and stems), tossing occasionally for about 5 minutes or until the leaves are wilted and the stems are soft. Remove the kale from the pan, add it to the blender, and dump the excess water.
4. Next, add about 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan over medium heat. Add more olive oil than you think you need because we’ll put all the oil into the blender to make our sauce. This will also help infuse it with the garlic and onion flavor. 
5. Add the leek and garlic to the oil and cook until softened and the garlic is just slightly browned. This took about 10 minutes for me, but keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t get too crispy or burnt. When soft, add the oil, garlic, and leek to the blender.
6. Squeeze your half lemon into the blender, and season everything with salt and pepper (don’t be afraid here! Add a lot, nothing has been seasoned yet so it needs lots of salt and pepper). Add a splash of the pasta cooking water as well.
7. Blend! And blend and blend. Taste! Adjust your seasonings: add more lemon juice, more salt and pepper, or extra garlic. If the mixture is too thick and you are having trouble blending, add more oil or pasta cooking water to loosen it up. Keep blending, tasting, and adjusting until the sauce is nice and smooth and tastes yummy!
8. Once it’s blended, put it back in the pan with the ½ cup of mascarpone, and heat over low to melt the cheese and combine it with the sauce.
9. Toss with the pasta, dish up, top with parmesan cheese, chili flakes, an extra squeeze of lemon, salt, and pepper, and eat up!

Ingrid’s Notes:

Right off the bat, there are many ways to customize this dish to fit your ingredients and dietary needs. I used kale as my base, but you can use any green, like spinach or chard, or even arugula (but I wouldn’t steam it; just pop it straight into the blender). I also sometimes add frozen veggies like peas, if that’s all I have, which I heat up in the pan with the greens.

You can omit the leek (or other onion) flavor entirely but definitely keep the garlic. It adds a nice zestiness, and you can use garlic powder instead of fresh. If you have fresh herbs, like basil, you can toss that in the blender to heighten the pesto flavor profile. If you have fresh tomato, chop it up and toss it on top.

I added the mascarpone cheese because I had it left over and wanted to add some creaminess, but you can make this vegan by leaving it out or replacing it with half an avocado (blend it with everything else to get a similar smooth and creamy texture). You can also stop after step six and have a lovely green sauce for a salad or as a topping for eggs or avocado toast. 

You can add more protein to this dish by cooking up some ground pork, sausage, or chicken (literally anything) and tossing it with the pasta and sauce. Or, use a meat alternative like chickpeas, white beans, or ground fake meat. The possibilities are endless! Good olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, chili flakes, and lemon can make everything taste delicious. Don’t be afraid to get creative, try out some new flavors, and don’t let those wilting greens go to waste!

I also made this rose lemonade-based spritz to pair with my springy green pasta. It’s light, floral, slightly sweet, crisp, and refreshing. The perfect drink to welcome spring!

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces of rose lemonade
• 2 ounces of Lillet Blanc or Rosé
• 2 ounces of prosecco
• Sparkling water
• Lemon slice

Instructions:

1. Add ice to a glass.
2. Pour in the lemonade, Lillet, and prosecco, and give it a stir.
3. Top with a splash of sparkling water and garnish with a lemon slice.

Ingrid’s Notes:

I use Fentimans Rose Lemonade, which is delicious, slightly sparkling, sweet, and lightly floral. So, I recommend that brand, but feel free to mix it up or make your own rose lemonade by adding rose water to lemonade. This drink is also delicious without the Lillet, a wine-based aperitif, if you aren’t sure you’ll like it or if it’s too much of a hassle to buy. You can also make this drink non-alcoholic by combining rose lemonade with sparkling water or use a non-alcoholic sparkling wine like Töst.

Get inspired by the colors and flavors of spring to use up those random ingredients hiding in the corners of your fridge. Use this recipe as a base to build on; don’t be afraid to experiment and get creative in the kitchen! I hope I’ve inspired you to cook yourself or your fellow Narwhals a delicious meal to nourish your mind and body as we enter the chaos of finals and graduation.