Mushroom & Kale Pasta

I keep forgetting to take pictures of my food. Yesterday I brined and roasted a chicken with brussel sprouts and shallots, and it was so pretty and delicious, but there is no picture to prove it. Oh well. It was really good. This pasta dish is not quite so pretty but it's really simple, quick and tasty. It takes several hours less of your time than the roast chicken. Tonight it took me about a half hour, but most of that was just waiting for the water to boil.

My grandma came over for dinner so I ended up making a lot more of this spaghetti than I was going to originally - it's a good thing to make an easy single serving. This photo is kind of misleading - I promise my grandma did not eat KFC instead of my pasta. The box is full of sand tarts, yay. The lantern box, however, really is a lantern.

I really don't feel like getting this into normal recipe form so:

Get the pasta water going, and do that when it's ready. If you're a bacon person, fry up some bacon, one piece per serving. Save the bacon on a paper towel-lined plate. 

In a little of the bacon fat or (if you're not doing bacon) olive oil, saute some garlic and onion in a skillet. I actually had a shallot so I used it, just like a fancy French person. 

Then add in the sliced mushrooms (I used about ten biggish button mushrooms for 4 servings but I could have used more) with some salt and pepper and fry them for a minute before adding in a few tbsp of water and the kale (about 3-4 cups), which I had cut up in very small pieces. (I've been keeping a stash of small bits of ready-to-go "massaged" kale in the fridge for salads.) That cooks up for about 10 minutes or until the water is dried up. It will reduce a lot so use a lot of mushrooms and kale.

If you did the bacon, add it in. Then, for 4 servings, I added about a half cup of ricotta and about a third cup of grated romano and mixed it around. If you want it a little thinner, add olive oil. Add more salt and pepper to taste. If my grandma isn't there, add chile flakes or maybe some cayenne. I had some parsley so I put some of that in. And more romano cheese.

I didn't do it this time, but this would be good with some walnuts or pine nuts!