Green odds & ends: a zero waste pasta
‘Fridge raid’, ‘fridge forage’, ‘mop-up meal’... there are lots of brilliant terms flying around at the moment for this style of cooking : wonderful, frugal, thoughtful, zero-waste cooking. It’s a style of cooking which turns to the fridge for dinner inspiration, rather than to a recipe book. “What have we got in that needs using up? And what can we make with that?” YES. Yes to more thrifty vegcentric weeknight meals.
Well - this delicious vegcentric working from home lunch was exactly that. We had the smaller half of a sorry looking savoy cabbage left in the fridge, and some leftover pesto which Joey had whizzed up the day before.
The ‘recipe’ below is less a traditional recipe, and more a suggested ratio for a delicious and nourishing pasta lunch for two, which can be different each time depending on what you have in the fridge. We have created numerous versions of this dish over the years, all with a similar ratio; it’s become our fixed ‘go-to’ when we have a few odds and ends of green veg left in the fridge - half a cabbage, sometimes a few leaves of cavolo nero, or a wilting head of spring greens.
The other key ingredient is frozen peas which we are never without! Peas on standby are critical for being able to whip up ‘mop-up meals’ as they can bulk out the ends of other veg just a little further if need be.
The flavour hack?
And finally! Please, please, please go ahead and take 5 minutes to make these anchovy & caper breadcrumbs to top this humble pasta dish. They are a truly incredible flavour hack: their crispy, salty, umami complexity takes this dish to the next level!
Prep time: 6 minutes
Cooking time: 12 minutes
This recipe serves 2 people.
Ingredients:
pasta sufficient for two, any sort
3 generous handfuls shredded ‘hard’ greens; these are greens that will take 4 minutes to cook in simmering water (ie. cabbage, kale, cavolo nero, spring greens)
1 cup frozen peas
4 tbsp pesto, any kind *
2 generous handfuls ‘soft’ greens; these are greens that will happily wilt in residual heat (ie. rocket, baby spinach, watercress)
½ lemon, to garnish
2 tbsp olive oil, to garnish
4 tbsp anchovy & caper breadcrumbs
Method:
* We think this ‘mop up meal’ works even better with a quick, slap-dash pesto! Simply whizz up any combination of soft herbs that need using up with 1 tbsp of nuts, a pinch of salt, 1 clove of minced garlic, and just enough olive oil to enable everything to blend.
Finely shred your ‘hard greens’, whether that’s cabbage, kale, spring greens etc.
Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil; ensure there’s plenty of water for not only the pasta, but the hard greens and the peas as well.
Once at a rolling boil add your pasta and stir. You can pop on the lid and turn the heat down at this point to save energy.
5 minutes from the end of the pasta’s cooking time throw in the shredded ‘hard green’ and the peas. Pop the lid back on and allow this to simmer for 5 minutes.
Drain the pasta and greens through a colander over the sink, and return to the saucepan almost immediately to prevent them drying out.
Add the pesto and the ‘soft greens’ and stir well until everything is evenly coated and the soft greens have wilted.
Serve in warmed bowls and top with a generous squeeze of lemon juice to brighten all the flavours, and an extra drizzle of olive oil for that luxurious final flourish.
Last but not least - top your pasta with these incredible anchovy & caper breadcrumbs for the ultimate flavour hack which will elevate this humble, ‘mop-up’ pasta dish to Godly heights!
