power greens bean mushroom pasta

So we had found power greens again after the local Giant had seemingly discontinued the product but several days had passed since the acquisition---naturally we wanted to build some dish around them before they went bad. Tuscan beans and greens was the first idea combo that came to mind so coming home from an early evening fitness center workout without any time to search the internet for ideas, we went with it. We also had some mushrooms, a few cremini and a few shittake, that seemed compatible, but which pasta? At first we thought fusilli, but we had a half box of pizzoccheri to use up, and they are a natural partner for greens, so bob went wtih ani's suggestion. Ani did up the mushrooms with some shallots in olive oid with a shake of red pepper flakes to get started, bob wilted the greens with a little water in the pot. From cannellini we went to pinto beans. To make a bit of sauce bob hand blender pureed a few spoons of beans with a few tablespoons of heavy cream left over from something, later ani added some pasta water, at the end parmigiano of course.

It could have been just another okay experiment, but this really hit the spot. We finished the whole dish, even though ani has been avoiding seconds to lose some of that summer weight from 3 months in Rome. Try it with a salad for a nice veggie meal.

ingredients

13.5 oz bag spinach with power greens by New Star

2 T olive oil

2 shallots

a touch of red pepper flakes

8 oz? cremini (5) and shitake(5) mushrooms, chopped

16 oz can pinto beans, or cannellini or other similar beans

8 oz pizzoccheri or other broken flat noodles, perhaps bowtie pasta

2-3 T heavy cream

reserved pasta water

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 c freshly grated parmigiano plus some for each serving

instructions

1. Wilt the greens either directly in a nonstick pan with some olive oil, or in a pot with a bit of water.
2. In a large nonstick pan, sauté the shallots in olive oil and a touch of red pepper flakes, then add the mushrooms and soften.
3. Puree a few spoons of beans with the cream.
4. Add the greens, beans and pureed beans to the pan with the mushrooms and shallots, the drained pasta, and a bit of pasta water and salt and pepper to taste, finally the parmigiano.
5. Serve with additional parmigiano.

notes

1. Spinach with power greens by New Star, already featured in our cuisine.
2. Illustrations available.