Pasta with Roasted Walnut Pesto

Pasta is not only very easy to make but can also be made from almost any ingredients. After the excesses of holiday cooking I now enjoy very simple dishes that can be made from whatever I have in my kitchen. This pasta is a perfect example of what I mean. It is made with walnuts, which are easy to store and I always have in my pantry. Walnuts are one of the most healthy nuts, a source of omega-9 fatty acids, zinc, selenium and antioxidants. My kids do not appreciate walnuts so I made this pasta to smuggle walnuts into their menu.

The recipe is my own combination of different walnut sauces which I tried from various Italian cookbooks. It can be made similarly to a traditional pesto sauce with just an oil, or it can be enriched with a little bit of cream. It is best served with spiral type of pasta which gets nicely coated in pesto.

Pasta with Roasted Walnut Pesto

Ingredients:
1 box of fusilli or rotini pasta,
1 cup of roasted walnuts pieces,
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs,
1/3 cup fresh parsley,
1-2 garlic cloves,
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil,
2-3 tbsp warm water or table cream,
2 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan,plus extra for serving,
a pinch of grated nutmeg,
salt, pepper to taste

Preparation:
1. Cook pasta in plenty of water.
2. Roast walnuts in the oven or on the frying pan until light brown. Rub between hands to remove dried skins.

3. Place walnuts, bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, Parmesan, and oil in a bowl of a small food processor.

4. Run the engine until the content of the bowl turns almost into a smooth sauce. If the sauce is too thick, add either water or cream, until the sauce reminds a thick cream.
5. Season the pesto with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
6. Pour over the hot pasta, toss, and finish with shredded Parmesan on top.

Fettuccine with Cheese and Black Pepper (Cacio e Pepe)

This recipe is just another proof of the culinary genius of the Italians. Simple and wonderful. I decided to share this recipe today as I think this is the kind of comfort dish that tastes particularly good on a cold winter day. Besides, it is the recipe that my son asked me to write down, so he could cook it one day, when he goes to college.

I never heard about this pasta until my last visit to Rome. My friend and host explained to me that it was in fact a very Roman dish and gave me the recipe. After I came back I made this pasta at home for my kids and instantly it became their most favorite pasta dish. Another simple and tasty dish that makes everyone happy.

There are basically two ingredients in this pasta black pepper and cheese. And again they should be of the best quality. Pepper should be full of flavor and fresh, Tellicherry would be most desirable, and cheese should be Pecorino Romano and Parmigiano Reggiano, preferably imported. If you have these ingredients, a delicious dinner is ready in no time.



Fettuccine with Cheese and Black Pepper

Ingredients:
3 tbsp coarsely, freshly ground black pepper, preferably Tellicherry,
2 tbsp olive oil,
2 tbsp unsalted butter,
1 lb fettuccine pasta,
1 cup freshly ground Pecorino Romano, plus some to finish,
1/2 cup tbsp freshly ground Parmigiano Reggiano to finish
salt.


Preparation: 1. Cook pasta in a large pot of salted water until still firm but cooked.
2. Grind the pepper and cheese.


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3. While pasta is cooking, heat butter and olive in a large frying pan. When bubbles appear add ground black pepper and fry while stirring continually for about 2 minutes until the flavor of the pepper is released.



4. Drain the fettuccine, saving about a cup of drained water.
5. Add pasta to the pan with pepper and toss it so it is covered with pepper. Add about 4 tbsps of the saved hot water.
6. Pour in both cheese and mix with pasta. If pasta is still too dry add extra water and mix. Serve immediately and finish with freshly ground Parmigiano Reggiano.

Rigatoni with Dijon Mustard Sauce

My home is very gluten friendly. All kinds of pastas, noodles, pizzas, and breads are highly appreciated. And recently, after reading an article that only two percent of population suffers from gluten-related allergies and the rest of us needs gluten in diet as an ingredient that helps to absorb toxins, I feel even less guilty about my love of pasta. It is a kind of food that always brings comfort, is easy to digest, and goes nicely with a glass of wine.

So today another super easy dish--Dijon mustard sauce pasta. But I think that because of the mustard this pasta dish belongs rather to the French than to the Italian cuisine. This pasta came fortunately to my mind last week, when I had 10 minutes and no idea what to make for dinner. In two minutes the smooth and slightly spicy sauce was ready and then the pasta was on the table. My kids enjoyed it a lot.



Rigatoni with Dijon Mustard Sauce

Ingredients:
2/3 lb rigatoni pasta,
1 cup heavy cream,
1 yolk from a large egg,
2–3 tbsp of Dijon mustard,
1/4 tsp white pepper,
3 tbsp chopped chives (or spring onion),
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Preparation:
1. Cook rigatoni until al dente.
2. In a large pot pour together the cream, egg yolk, Dijon mustard, and white pepper. Mix all the ingredients and bring slowly to boil. Let it simmer for about 2 minutes.



3. Drain pasta and dump into the sauce. Mix well.
4. Transfer to a serving bowl, sprinkle with chives and and Parmesan.

Lasagna with Kale--World's Healthiest Vegetable

I had no time to update my blog but I have been cooking a lot and eating so well over the past long weekend that writing about food seemed almost too much.

The idea of today's post came to me a couple of days ago. While watching the Italian movie "La Grande Bellezza" and looking at Rome's most beautiful landmarks, I started to dream about some of my favorite Italian dishes--vegetarian pastas and risottos.

So today I decided to make a lasagna. In my home lasagna almost always means white béchamel sauce and vegetarian filling that would make all of us happy. Béchamel helps my vegetarian son, who does not like most vegetables, accept any vegetables if I put them between the sheets of lasagna.

After the trip to TJ I came home with a large bag of Tuscan kale (to make the dish as healthy and Italian as it could be). In recent years, kale became THE vegetable and is often called world's healthiest vegetable. It features in almost all healthy diets and especially those detoxifying, based on juices. It is super rich in many vitamins, particularly K, A and C, helps lower cholesterol and when included in a daily diet, it is reputed to lower cancer risk by mitigating the genetic predisposition to it.

Kale has a nice earthy and nutty taste and a slightly firm texture thanks to which this lasagna, besides being healthy, can also be very tasty and satisfying.

Kale Lasagna
(Serves four)

Ingredients:
9 lasagna sheets,
10 oz kale leaves (one large bag), chopped,
1 medium onion, chopped,
2 garlic cloves, sliced,
2 tbsp olive oil,
4 tbsp butter,
4 tbsp all purpose flour,
2 and 1/2 cup milk,
4-6 oz shredded Pecorino cheese,
salt and pepper to taste.

Preparation:
1. In a large frying pan heat the oil. Add the onion and garlic and fry on a medium heat for about 5 minutes until transparent. Add washed and chopped kale leaves and fry on a medium heat for a couple of minutes until kale twiddles.

2. Make béchamel. Melt butter in a medium pot over the medium heat. Whisk in the flour. Pour in milk and using a whisker make a smooth sauce. Bring to boil, while whipping continuously, and set aside. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Preheat oven to 375F.

4. Use about 1/3 of the béchamel sauce to cover the bottom of an oven proof dish. Spread three sheets of lasagna on top of it. Cover the lasagna with half of kale and put half of shredded Pecorino on top.

5. Place the second layer of lasagna on top. Use a half of the remaining béchamel to cover it and spread the second half of kale on top of it.

6. Cover the kale with the third layer of lasagna. Pour over the rest of béchamel and spread the remaining pecorino. Cover with the aluminum foil and bake for about 30 minutes. Remove the foil and let the lasagna bake for another 10 minutes until it turns dark gold.

Take out of the oven, let it cool down a little bit, cut and serve.

Linguine with Radicchio

Somehow I still did not get into the usual cooking mood, so my meals are really simple and often limited to salads, even for dinner. In such lazy and disorganized moments Italian cuisine and pasta come to the rescue. And they never disappoint me. So today I made radicchio pasta for dinner.

I love radicchio. Unlike some people, I do not mind its bitter taste and its texture, which is harder than in most other salads. I usually eat radicchio raw but I often read about meals that use cooked or grilled radicchio. However, my experiment with grilling it discouraged me for a while from experimenting. Grilled radicchio turned out dry and rather forgettable in taste.

But my Italian friend convinced me recently about giving a chance to cooked radicchio. She told me about all different dishes based on radicchio she prepares--pastas, lasagnas, pizzas, and warm salads, where radicchio is cooked and tastes really delicious.

Radicchio, in its basic version, is easily available almost everywhere those days. I usually keep a head or two in my refrigerator to enrich green salads. So when this pasta came to my mind as a dinner idea I already had the basic ingredient. It took no time to make this pasta dish. The sauce became creamy and slightly bitter from the radicchio, and fried pancetta rounded up the flavor.

Linguine with Radicchio
(Serves four)

Ingredients:
1/2 box of dried linguine,
1 head of radicchio, sliced,
4 oz of pancetta or lean bacon,
1/2 medium onion, cut in half and sliced,
3 garlic cloves, minced,
1/2 cup table cream,
freshly shredded Parmesan cheese,
2 tbsp olive oil,
salt and pepper.

Preparation:
1. Cook pasta until al dente in salted water.
2. Heat a heavy duty pan and fry pancetta until it releases its grease. Remove as much of the grease as you can and add olive oil to the pan. Add onion and garlic and fry everything until onion becomes transparent.
3. Add radicchio to the pan and toss for about 2 minutes until radicchio become soft. Pour in cream and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring sauce to bubbling and cook for another 2 minutes.

4. Drain the pasta and place in a large bowl. Pour the sauce over the pasta and shred fresh Parmesan on top. Serve hot.

A Very Spring Zucchini Pasta

To be honest, I have been waiting so intently for the zucchini blossoms to appear at my local market to try some interesting recipes, which I recently spotted in some Italian culinary magazines, that I forgot about the zucchinis themselves. So, maybe, before I buy these blossoms or, if and until, they finally bloom in my garden, I would like to share a zucchini pasta recipe. This is one of not too many vegetable pastas that my picky kids enjoy a lot, so I cook it fairly often.

Usually, I have been making it with large green or yellow zucchinis and dried basil leaves, a combination which in this vegetarian recipe works perfectly. I grate the zucchinis on a large hole grater and make a creamy sauce with them, flavored with dried basil. But, the other day, I got a bag of beautiful, small and green baby zucchinis and decided to use them instead.

This time I only sliced the zucchinis as they were tiny. And, instead of the dried basil, I used the more seasonal fresh basil, which is already growing in the pots on my deck. I also cooked the whole wheat pasta that becomes increasingly popular and easy to buy. It has a little bit stronger taste so it goes nicely with a delicate taste of the zucchini sauce and provides fiber, proteins, and even a good amount of Omega 3 fatty acids.

Zucchini Pasta
(Serves four)

Ingredients:
1 box (about a pound) of Barilla multi grain penne or De Cecco whole wheat penne,
2 tbsp olive oil,
1 pound of baby zucchini or regular zucchini,
1 medium onion, chopped,
2 garlic cloves, minced,
1 cup table cream,
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil leaves or 1 tbsp dried,
shredded Parmesan,
salt and pepper to taste.

Preparation:
1. Cook pasta according to the instruction. With whole wheat pasts, this will take a little bit longer than regular, about 11-13 minutes,
2. Preheat oil in large heavy duty frying pan and fry onion until transparent.
3. Cut baby zucchinis into thin slices or if yuo have the normale size zucchinis, grate them on a large hole grater. Add them to the pan with the onion. Mix and cook all the vegetables together on a medium heat until all the water from the zucchinis evaporates and they start to turn gold. Add minced garlic and fry everything together for about 2 minutes.

4. Finally, pour in the cream, mix and bring the sauce to boil. If it becomes too thick, add an extra hot water from the pot with boiling pasta.
5. Season the sauce with salt and generously with freshly griound pepper, add chopped basil and mix everything well together.
6. Drain pasta, pour the zucchini sauce over. Finish with shredded Parmesan and serve with red wine.

Mac and Cheese--with a French Twist

Years ago, when my younger son was still a preschooler, he came home from a play date and said that for lunch he ate the best macaroni cheese in his life. I felt terrible that my son had the best macaroni and cheese (since I do not make it ) at someone else's home so I decided to obtain that special recipe and replicate it at home. The next day when I approached those kids' nanny about that subject, she said "Oh, we buy macaroni and cheese, the one from Kraft". I could not believe that my son's best in the world macaroni came from a 99 cents Kraft box.

Since that incident I have managed to introduce Philip to many of my home made dishes which now he likes very much and often asks for. But once in a while he gets nostalgic about that special macaroni he had at his friend's house. So I had no other choice than finally to make it myself.

I checked and compared several recipes. They often called for many other ingredients than the obvious pasta and cheese. Depending on chef's personality and origin, eggs, powdered milk, evaporated milk, and the use of different types of cheese accounted for the differences between one recipe and another.

But, instead of experimenting with any of them, I decided to go with my instinct and used simple but high quality fresh ingredients, recommended in one of the French magazines I once read.

Just after a bit more than half an hour I put a plate of my first macaroni and cheese in front of my son. He could not believe his luck. When the plate was empty in no time he admitted that this was the best mac and cheese he had in his still very short life.

Macaroni and cheese
(Serves four)

1/2 lb elbow pasta,
2/3 cup shredded Gruyère cheese and 2/3 cup shredded good quality Cheddar cheese,
1 cup crème fraîche (if you don't have it, you could use Mexican crema fresca or ordinary sour cream),
2 tbsp butter,
2 tbsp breadcrumbs,
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
1. Cook pasta in a medium pot until al dente, soft but still firm.
2. Preheat oven to 370F.
3. Grease a medium oven proof dish with a tbsp of butter,
4. Mix both cheese and cream, salt and pepper.
5. Drain cooked pasta and fold in the cheese-cream mixture. Transfer to a baking dish.

6. Top with remaining butter and breadcrumbs.
7. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the top of pasta is dark gold.
Serve with cucumber or green salads

Thai Egg Noodles with Roasted Sesame Seeds

Noodles, dumplings, and pasta of all kind are the dishes that you cannot go wrong in my home. My kids just love them (and to be honest I do too). Most often they win over any vegetable dish that I try to sneak into their diet.

My recent discovery--egg noodles with sesame seeds--a Thai cuisine recipe, turned out to be a big hit. A very simple and nutritious dish that can be made in minutes as an emergency meal. I almost always have in the pantry all the ingredients that the recipe calls for and, in a moment of desperation (e.g., when traffic complicates my schedule) I can quickly turn them into a nice dinner. Good roasted sesame seeds are available in most Asian food stores.

I use dried Thai egg noodles, but if I plan making sesame noodles ahead, I can buy in my local Asian food store fresh egg noodles, which I simply boil in the water for two minutes. Then I pour a cold sauce, mix, and serve. I sprinkle the ready to serve dish with chopped coriander leaves. My son likes to add also some chopped chives.

Egg Noodles with Sesame Seeds

Ingredients:
2 packs 8 oz egg Thai noodles (preferably round),
3 tbsp rice bran oil or sunflower oil,
2 tbsp sesame oil,
2 garlic cloves minced,
2 tbsp smooth peanut butter,
3 tbsp toasted sesame seeds,
4 tbsp light soy sauce,
1 tbsp fresh lime juice,
1 green chili seeded and chopped very finely (optional, if you like it spicy),
4 tbsp chopped fresh coriander leaves,
2 tbsp chopped spring onion,
pepper to taste.

Preparation:
1. Cook noodles according to instruction.
2. To make a sauce, in a medium bowl mix together rice bran oil, sesame oil, minced garlic, soy sauce, and peanut butter. Mix to create a smooth dressing. Add lime juice, pepper to taste, and chili if used. Mix again.

3. Drain the noodles and place them in a large bowl. Add the sauce and toss well. Sprinkle with coriander leaves and chives and serve immediately.

All Italian Whole Wheat Pasta Salad--Hodgson Mill Giveaway

I have been asked by the Hodgson Mill company to create a whole wheat pasta salad recipe and participate in their contest. I make pasta at least once a week and, recently, I have been particularly often using whole wheat pasta. I think certain sauces taste even better with whole wheat past thanks to its stronger, kind of nutty flavor. It also has some added health benefits.

But although I cook pastas often, there is only one pasta salad I make which is based on all good Italian ingredients. And maybe because it is very light, seasoned just with oil and vinegar instead of mayonnaise, it always disappears rather fast when I serve it for deck parties to accompany grilled meats. So that is the recipe I share today.

Hodgson Mill also offered a $25 suite of their assorted products to the US readers of my blog. This gift will be sent to the first person who first sends an answer to the following question:

What are the health benefits of the whole wheat pasta?



All Italian Whole Wheat Pasta Salad

Ingredients:
10 oz whole wheat whole grain Hodgson Mill pasta (preferably bow ties),
2/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil,
one large red bell pepper,
one small red onion,
1/4 cup roasted pine nuts,
1/4 cup marinated capers,
4 oz pancetta or very lean smoked bacon,
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar,
3 tbsp shredded or grated Parmesan cheese,
2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley,
one tsp freshly ground black pepper,
one tbsp salt.



Preparation:
1. In a large pot bring to boil 4 quarts of water with a tbsp of salt. Add pasta, stir and let it cook until the water boils. Turn down the heat to medium and cook pasta for about 7 to 9 minutes, until tender but not too soft. Drain the pasta on the colander and transfer to a large bowl.
2. Preheat an oven broiler to 400 F and grill the pepper on the highest rack until the skin turns black, or roast the pepper on the fork over a gas burner until the skin is charcoaled. Place the pepper in a small bowl and cover it. Let it cool down. Peel off the pepper, remove seeds and cut it into small squares. Add them to the pasta.
3. Drain tomatoes from the oil and cut them into thin strips. Add to the pasta together with 2 tbsp of oil that they were marinated in. You can also use just dried tomatoes but then add 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil to the pasta.
4. Cut pancetta or bacon into very small cubes. Fry them on a small frying pan until all the grease is released and pancetta turns gold. Drain pancetta from the grease and add to the pasta.
5. Peel off the onion, chop finely and add to the bowl.
6. Drain capers from the brine and toss them in the pasta. Follow with pine nuts, chopped parsley and shredded Parmesan cheese.
7. Season with pepper and balsamic vinegar at the end. Mix gently all the ingredients and serve at room temperature.

If you like this recipe please go to the Hodgson Mill website and vote for it:

http://pinterest.com/pin/219761656787367264/

http://www.hodgsonmill.com/all-italian-whole-wheat-pasta-salad/

Pasta with Walnuts, Sage, and Fresh Ricotta--Flavors of Autumn

Even though I do not post pasta recipes every week, in my kitchen I make it at least once a week, often even twice when kids ask for it. We all love it! I cannot imagine my life without pasta. Whenever I give a choice to my kids what to eat for dinner the answer is always pasta.

I always make my own fresh sauce and if possible I try to make it from seasonal ingredients. So during the course of the year my pasta could be topped with mushrooms, herbs, fresh tomatoes, creamy lemon sauce, but most often it would be with our favorite sauce made with roasted red bell peppers. Sometimes I do it with salmon but hardly ever with meat. I often serve it with fresh cheese and always with glass of wine (for grown-ups). And nothing tastes better or more comforting than pasta, and there is no home-made dish that is easier to make in no time.

Last week, I bought a bag of walnuts in shells, mostly to put them on a wooden plate as a seasonal decoration. But they reminded me of a pasta dish that I usually make only in the fall--pasta with walnuts. And I don't even remember where I got this recipe from.

I toast walnuts and sage leaves in butter. When toasted, walnuts become even more aromatic and crunchy. If I have them, I use black walnuts, which are more aromatic than the regular ones and remind me more of those I used to eat in Poland. Then I mix them with hot pasta and fresh creamy ricotta cheese. It is important to use fresh ricotta--pasta does not taste half that good made with the regular supermarket ricotta, which is too dry and chewy. I buy mine at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, or at the Italian delicatessen. I love this contrast of the almost sweet, smooth cheese and spicy, very flavored taste of nuts and herbs that all come from a fall harvest and smell like autumn. To spice it all up a bit it is good to add a few hot pepper flakes. But also it takes hardly ten minutes to have a wonderful dinner.

Pasta with Walnuts, Sage, and Fresh Ricotta
(Serves four)

Ingredients:
1 box (1 lb) penne pasta,
1 cup roughly chopped walnuts,
1 large bunch of sage leaves, chopped crosswise,
15 oz (425 g) fresh ricotta cheese,
6 tbsp butter,
4 garlic cloves, chopped,
1 tsp red hot pepper flakes,
salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Preparation:
1. In a large pot bring water to boil with one tablespoon of salt. Add pasta, bring it to boiling, turn down the heat and boil until al dente for about 8-11 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat a large frying pan. Melt butter and add garlic. Fry them for about 2 minutes, then stir in the walnuts and sage. Fry them for about 5 minutes, until the nuts are toasted and sage leaves get darker and crispy.

3. Drain pasta and add to the frying pan. Mix well. Turn off the heat and add fresh ricotta. Season with hot pepper flakes, extra salt--if you need to--and generously with freshly ground black pepper.

Serve immediately and enjoy.

Peas and Herbs Pasta--Before I Go

This weekend I am leaving on an almost month-long, and probably rainy and cold vacation in Poland and I am desperately trying to empty my refrigerator and freezer. Although I have known about that for weeks and not been buying much food, my refrigerator is still packed. For some, this could be an extra food stock, for me this is a minimum, survival supply.

I hope that there would not be a major storm that will cut power for hours and unfreeze all the frozen goods. But I also have quite a lot of fresh produce that will not survive my three-week absence. So I have been experimenting with all that is left and if I had been in the mood I should have organised a party to make that stock disappear. But I was just too busy.

Last week I made a pretty good progress in emptying shelves, but yesterday I found a piece of ricotta salata that will turn into blue cheese if I do not use it now. I had no fresh vegetable to make salad of it, but still had a bag of frozen peas, and I thought about a pasta dish that once I read about in Gourmet magazine. I still had one lemon that was needed and all the herbs that are growing in my yard. Without much cooking, a fresh and summery pasta was ready in minutes--a proof that pasta can be made from anything.

Peas and Herbs Pasta

Ingredients:
1 box farfalle,
8 oz (1/2 lb) fresh peas or one bag of frozen,
1/2 lb ricotta salata,
1 lemon,
1/2 cup basil leaves,
2 tbsp fresh tarragon,
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil,
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Preparation:
1. Cook pasta in a large pot with a tbsp of salt. When it is almost al dente add peas and cook for a couple of minutes, until they become soft but still bright green. Strain everything on a colander.
2. Grate ricotta salata on a large grater into a large bowl. Grate a peel from one lemon and squeeze the juice into a bowl. Add fresh chopped herbs, olive oil, freshly ground pepper, and salt if needed.

3. Add hot pasta with peas, mix and serve.

Swiss Chard Pasta--Peppery Feast

Whenever I have no idea what to cook for dinner, pasta always comes to my rescue. Especially on a busy day, pasta seems the best idea for an easy and light dinner. Vegetable-based pasta meals are my favorites as they can be made from practically any vegetables.

It is almost impossible to come up with an idea for a pasta that the Italians have not yet come up with, but recently I heard about pasta with Swiss chard. I ate Swiss chard a coupe of times, also in Indian dishes, but never with pasta. The idea seemed tempting, as Swiss chard is inexpensive, available most of the year, in particular in the Asian food stores, and healthy as a source of vitamins K, A, and C, and thirteen antioxidants. All in all pasta with Swiss chard seemed like a desirable addition to my pasta menu.

I noticed that Swiss chard has been very popular recently and, especially on many food blogs, people are trying to come up with new ideas on how to use that healthy vegetable.

So when I saw beautiful bunches of colorful Swiss chard in a grocery store I visit weekly, I bought one of them. For the first time I cooked Swiss chard myself and for the first time I made pasta with chard, inspired by a recipe from Metropolitan Home. The recipe called for adding a tbsp of Aleppo, Maras, or Urfa pepper, or pimento de la Vera, but I omitted that step as pasta with such spices could be to strong for kids, but it is said that those peppers will add a lot of flavor to this already well-defined, peppery tasting dish.

Swiss Chard and Olives Pasta
Serves 4-6

Ingredients:
1 bunch of Swiss chard,
1 lb (one box) Ziti pasta,
1 onion, peeled and thinly sliced,
5 garlic cloves, sliced,
10 to 15 black olives, cured in brine, sliced,
3 tomatoes chopped,
1/2 cup basil or flat leaved parsley, chopped,
1/3 cup olive oil,
1/4 cup toested pine nuts,
salt and pepper,
grated Parmesan,
1 tbsp Aleppo, Maras, or Urfa pepper, or pimento de la Vera.

Preparation:
1. Cut out leaves from the stalks and blanch them for about 1 minute in a large pot of boiling water. Drain, chop, and set aside.
2. Cook pasta in a pot of 4 quarters of water with a tbsp salt, until al dente.
3. Meanwhile. heat the oil, garlic, and onion over medium heat in a large saute pan stirring constantly for 5 to 7 minutes, until slightly brown.
4. Add to the pan blanched chard, olives, tomatoes, basil or parsley, pine nuts, salt, pepper and Aleppo paper if used.Cook stirring until mixture is just bubbling,about 3 to 4 minutes.

5. Drain the pasta, add to the pan with chard mixture and stir to combine.
6. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve at once.