Pasta with chickpeas, kale, tomatoes and capers

 

This recipe is pantry/garden friendly, at least if your garden is overrun by volunteer kale you can't bring yourself to eradicate, because what if you wind up needing that to survive? Hard to beat free food.

Pasta with chickpeas and kale
Adapted from Food Network magazine Nov./Dec. 2008

Ingredients
1 pound pasta
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
5 garlic cloves, sliced
¼ cup capers, drained
½ cup chopped fresh parsley
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 bunch kale, thinly sliced
½ cup grated Parmesan, plus more for garnish

Method
Cook pasta in boiling salted water until al dente. Drain, reserving some cooking liquid.

Meanwhile, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet. Add garlic, capers, parsley and chickpeas. Cook over medium high heat until slightly browned.

Add tomatoes, kale and salt to taste. Cook for 10 minutes until sauce thickens. Stir in pasta and Parmesan, adding reserved cooking liquid as necessary. Serve drizzled with additional olive oil and sprinkled with additional grated Parmesan.

Rating: Fast, reasonably tasty thanks to the capers. One less bunch of kale to go through. But you could certainly use spinach or escarole instead. Dave's take: It's palatable kale that doesn't even have bacon.