Zara Cooks in Cameroon

Ingredients:

8 oz (250 gm) penne, rotelle or rigatoni (I used farfalle) 1/4 c. pasta cooking water 1 T olive oil 1/2 onion, chopped 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 lb chard leaves, washed & chopped 1/2 c. wine or stock (or pasta water with a splash of balsamic) 1 t red pepper flakes 1/4 c. toasted pine nuts Salt & pepper

Cook pasta while prepping other ingredients. Toast pine nuts in a dry pan.

In a large pan, heat oil and add onion. Cook for 2 minutes and add garlic. Add the chopped Swiss chard and toss to coat (or not, if you're using a very tiny pan). Pour in the wine or stock (or pasta water with a splash of balsamic, if you're me) and stir to coat (or not, if you're using a very tiny pan). When the chard begins to wilt, stir in the red pepper flakes and pine nuts. Bring to a simmer and stir in the reserved pasta cooking water. Immediately add the cooked pasta (or add *to* the cooked pasta, if that pan is bigger) and toss to coat. Or kind of mix it together carefully, if your chard likes to stick together.

Enjoy!

The original recipe can be found here. You'll notice I didn't use tomatoes (I didn't have any) and I quadrupled the pine nuts (and tripled the garlic). It still turned out great. And my stock substitution was perfect. I bet the original recipe turns out pretty tasty, too.

Also, this was really delicious cold the next day. Boom.