Wholewheat penne with spring greens and sausage. - AP
Several brands are now producing very reputable wholewheat pasta. - AP
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Sara Moulton, APNo matter how unimpeachable wholewheat pasta is in terms of nutritional cred, I've always found it off-putting.
Sure, it has more fibre and whole-grain nutrition. But it always struck me as rather spineless and dull. And as someone whose culinary credo is that food can be scrumptious and healthy, I wasn't about to eat whole-wheat pasta only for its nutritional benefits.
Recently several brands have developed very respectable lines of 100 per cent wholewheat pasta. If you haven't lately, you might want to taste a few of them to decide which is your favourite.
Once you've settled on a winner, cook it the way I suggest in this recipe, which is to finish cooking the pasta in the sauce. This produces a more flavourful dish than the more traditional method of cooking the sauce separately and then combining them.
Years ago, I learned a better way when New York chef and restaurateur Scott Conant (his mom is of Italian descent) was my guest on Cooking Live. Transfer the pasta before it's fully cooked to the sauce, then let it simmer in the sauce until it's done. This way the pasta absorbs the flavour of the sauce and becomes that much tastier.
If you also add a little of the pasta cooking liquid to the sauce, it will work to glue together the pasta and sauce in a most satisfyingly connubial fashion.
And let's not forget our Swiss chard. A spring vegetable, this tangy Mediterranean member of the beet family comes in several colours, from bottle green to rainbow. And it's edible from tip to toe, too, stems included. Just slice the stems and put them in the pan before the greens, because they take a little longer to soften.
Besides chard, this dish also would provide a happy home for spinach, beet greens, or any other greens.
To finish, I pepped up the greens with a little chicken sausage, but just a little and just for flavour. Plenty of cultures use animal protein this way, rather than relying on a substantial slab of it to occupy the centre of the plate. There's a lesson there for us - it's better for our health and for the environment.
This is pretty much a one-dish meal. Serve it with a nice little tossed salad on the side and a glass of vino, and savour your contentment.
Wholewheat penne with spring greens and sausage
If you have trouble finding Swiss chard, you can substitute spinach. Discard any tough spinach stems and use the leaves as directed.
Start to finish: 45 minutes (15 minutes active)
Servings: 4
Ingredients
8oz wholewheat penne
1lb Swiss chard
2tbs extra-virgin olive oil
4oz chicken sausages, halved lengthways, then sliced 1/2-inch-thick crosswise
1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
Kosher salt
15oz can (about 1 3/4 cups) chopped tomatoes, preferably fire- roasted
1/2tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
1 1/2oz grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Method
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook for a few minutes less than the recommended time on the box.
Meanwhile, cut off and reserve the Swiss chard stems. Chop the Swiss chard leaves coarsely. Cut the stems into half-inch lengths.
In a large skillet over medium-high, heat the oil. Add the sausages and cook, stirring, for three minutes, or until lightly browned. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the sausages to a bowl.
Return the skillet to medium heat and add the onion. Cook until golden, three to five minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for one minute.
Add the Swiss chard stems to the skillet, cover and cook for three minutes. Remove the lid and add half the Swiss chard greens. Stir and cook, stirring occasionally, until the greens are slightly wilted. Add the remaining greens, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until completely wilted. Add the tomatoes, a hefty pinch of salt and the red pepper flakes, if using.
When the pasta is almost done but not quite al dente, drain it, reserving one cup of the cooking liquid. Add the pasta and three-quarters cup of the cooking liquid to the skillet and simmer for three to four minutes, adding more cooking liquid if necessary, until the pasta is al dente and most of the liquid has evapourated. Add the sausages, then season with salt. Divide the mixture among four shallow bowls and top each portion with some of the cheese.
Nutrition information per serving: 380 calories
110 calories from fat
12 g fat
20 mg cholesterol
55 g carbohydrate
8 g fiber
6 g sugar
19 g protein
950 mg sodium