Chickpea Pasta with Parmesan & Kale

It’s a cold but brilliantly sunny early winter afternoon.  It’s just me and my dog jack, both curled up on the couch. Me with a book and he with his eyes closed and an occasional twitch of his two hind feet.

My stomach reminds me that it hasn’t yet eaten lunch, which propels me to the large double doors where the pantry provisions are stored.  Pasta!  I spot a jar of garlic chickpeas and remember a few wilted leaves of the last of the garden kale  buried in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator.
I love the idea of using a few odds and ends to throw together  a feast.

Chickpea pasta with parmesan & kale

Ingredients:

2 cups of bite-sized dried pasta, such as rigatoncini, orecchiete or

a few leaves of kale , cut into thin ribbons {use any garden greens on hand}

2 Tablespoons garlic chickpeas in their oil,  slightly crushed

grated parmesan cheese

Heat a pot of salted water until it comes to a rolling boil.

Toss a handful of the cut kale into the boiling water along with the pasta.

Cook the pasta until it’s tender to the tooth.   

Though I don’t normally cook kale to death,  this method is more a matter of ease.  
Surprisingly,  it yields a delicious melt-in-your mouth texture. 

While the pasta and kale drain of it’s excess water in a colander, I grab what’s left of a once-substantial piece of parmesan.  Tender snowflakes of cheese fall gracefully into a ceramic bowl, inviting the other ingredients to join the feast.   

Toss the pasta, kale, parmesan and chickpeas together .  Grate another Tablespoon or two of the parmesan on top.  

Buon appetito!