Clean Your Fridge Pasta

This recipe is great if you have a bunch of stuff lurking in your refrigerator. In our case, that was half a can of sun-dried tomatoes, some kale, and some Parmesan! How easy are those ingredients to make into a dinner? Pretty damn easy, if I do say so myself. Granted, Will was the mastermind behind this dish, but that doesn't mean I can't pretend like I didn't have anything to do with it :) Not much else to say other than it's a nice variety on a standard pasta, because it doesn't have a thick cream sauce or a heavy tomato-based sauce. The sun-dried tomatoes are a real treat and have so much more flavor than your standard tomatoes!

Clean Your Fridge Pasta
8 oz. pasta (we used fusili)
1-2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
1 cup milk
1/3 cup parmesan
1/2 bunch kale
5 sun-dried tomatoes
2 cloves garlic

To prepare, mince your garlic, remove kale leaves from stems and chop into bite-size pieces, finely dice kale stems, and slice sun-dried tomatoes into slivers. Begin to cook pasta according to package directions. Once pasta begins cooking, heat 1-2 tbsp olive oil (preferably from the can of sun-dried tomatoes) in a large skillet. When oil is warm, add garlic and saute for 1-2 minutes. Add the chopped kale stems and saute for 4-5 minutes. Then add the sun-dried tomatoes, sauteing for another minute before adding kale leaves (add a little water to help steam leaves, if necessary). Saute until the leaves are wilted.

While cooking pasta and sauteing veggies, prepare your sauce. Melt butter on low in a small saucepan, whisk in flour and allow to simmer for 1 minute. Turn the heat up to medium and add the milk, stirring occasionally until mixture thickens and begins to simmer. Add parmesan, stirring until melted and combined. When vegetable mix is ready, combine sauce with the vegetables, then drain and add the pasta to the pan, stirring everything together. Eat!