Clean out the fridge quarantine pasta
Today, Thursday, is farmers market day in North Berkeley. While I normally enjoy browsing the farmers market during regular life, these days I won’t miss it. Over the past several weeks everyone has probably experienced long lines at grocery stores, empty shelves here and there, and the creeping awareness that there are potential germies on every surface. As a result grocery shopping is decidedly less fun than it used to be. Comparatively, I think shopping at the farmer’s market is now far and away the best way to get your weekly greens, as if it wasn’t already.
Many vendors have instituted clever systems for maintaining social distancing and minimizing potential contact. The lack of packaging also removes the urge to lysol every cardboard or plastic container I would normally unpack after a Safeway run. Lastly, but certainly not least, it’s nice to shop outside and smile at a farmer once a week. Everyone screaming at their screen right now “Lucien, this has always been the case, farmers markets are better than stores!” is absolutely right, my point is just that I appreciate them all the more given the current state of things.
Back to the point of all this… Today being farmers market day, and farmers market day having become a date I do not miss while in quarantine, I had to make some room in the fridge this afternoon. I gathered the remaining veg from last week’s farmers market haul and decided to make lunch with it. That’s where “clean out the fridge quarantine pasta” got it’s name.
This pasta dish is more formula than recipe and it seems to work regardless of the component parts. As a result the formula is simple but the applications are endless. It goes like this:
Boil the pasta of your choice in a large pot of salted water.
In a separate pan, sauté whatever fresh veg you have on hand in lots of olive oil.
Add the al dente pasta to the veg pan and toss to combine. Bonus points if you throw in fresh herbs at this point.
Adjust flavors before serving with salt, acid & fat.
That’s it, a very basic but tried and true formula. However, there are some considerations that can make the recipe truly delicious. When choosing veg consider a variety of flavors and colors. It’s nice to combine something sweet (onion, leek, carrot, or most other root vegetables) with something bitter (broccoli, kale, other dark leafy greens). Likewise, it’s great to have a variety of colors–it’s no secret that colorful attractive food is more appetizing.
When adjusting flavors at the end you’re looking for balance between richness (fat), brightness (acidity) and of course saltiness. Add more oil or cheese for richness. Some cheeses like parmigiano reggiano also contribute saltiness. Vinegar of course will contribute acid and thus brightness, as will lemon zest or juice. Balsamic vinegar is a good choice for a bit of sweet with your splash of acid.
One final decision that can make a significant difference and shouldn’t be overlooked is pasta shape. Since this dish tends to produce a chunky sauce I prefer shorter shapes that’ll be similar in size to the veg since longer pasta won’t be able to hold anything. Today, I went with medium shells which caught bits of veg and oil in their cup.
You could make hundreds of unique and delicious pasta dishes using this formula, and over the years I probably have. Today’s iteration featured onion, garlic and a baby leek, broccolini, red cabbage, and chili flakes. I added balsamic while the heat was still on to mellow it a bit before stirring in mustard greens to wilt right when I added the pasta. I finished with lemon zest, more olive oil, and a healthy grating of parm. Not only was it the perfect lunch, it enabled me to shop guilt free knowing there weren’t week-old veg going unused at home.
