Our CSA started this week and I am so excited. We first joined a CSA last summer and we are hooked. I love picking up our share every week. The fruit and vegetables still have bits of earth on them. They smell like earth and the colors cannot be replicated in paintings or photography. The bits of dirt remind me of where this food came from and I like that.

I love color of the asparagus tips. The purple is just coming through. They look so delicate. Asparagus works with so many dishes and it is one of the few vegetables my kids will eat. I wanted to work them into the easy pasta dish I made but decided to hold off. I’ll save them for the next night when I grill chicken which the kids won’t eat. When I watch them ignore their chicken but eat the asparagus, dipped in a vinaigrette of course, I won’t feel like I completely lost the dinner battle.

So, I decided to make an easy pasta dish with the spinach we received this week. This pasta dish comes together quickly which is perfect for a weeknight. The spinach was a beautiful bright green and covered in dirt. After a good rinsing it was ready for sautéing.

I like to have a glass of wine or a beer when I cook. Also, I usually turn on a half hour show for the kids to watch so I can relax a bit. Cooking dinner with kids underfoot is miserable. It raises the stress level which is so not necessary. Things are stressful as is, so why not be kind to myself?  Once I hear the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme song come on the stress lowers a bit and then I have a sip of a beer or a glass wine and I am well one my way to getting dinner on the table.

Once the greens are sautéing, I chop up my herbs and zest the lemon. The pasta water is almost at a boil.

I used a combination of rosemary and thyme. I love lemon zest in pasta and a pinch of red pepper flakes adds a slight spice to the dish. The parmesan adds a perfect saltiness but who am I kidding? I could parmesan on anything.

Bubba liked this meal. The kids requested their pasta plain which I obliged because not every battle, every night needs to be fought.

Garlic Butter Pasta with Spinach, Lemon and Parmesan

serves 2-3

adapted from Naturally Ella

Ingredients

4 tablespoons butter

2 cloves garlic

2 sprigs rosemary finely chopped

zest of 1 lemon

3 handfuls spinach

8 ounces of pasta

2 sprigs of thyme for garnish

a pinch of red pepper flakes

½ cup parmesan

Directions

Heat butter over medium-low heat in a large sauce pan. Mince garlic and add to pan. Sauté  until fragrant but not brown, about 1-2 minutes.  Add rosemary and cook for an additional minute or so. Add rinsed and dried spinach, lemon zest and a pinch of red pepper flakes to butter mixture and cook until spinach is wilted.

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until tender. Reserve 1/2 cup of cooking liquid. Add pasta to spinach mixture . If pasta seems dry, add a small bit of reserved cooking liquid until the pasta seems less dry.

Sprinkle parmesan on top and toss to combine. Serve with an extra parmesan and a bit of fresh thyme. Enjoy!