A Blast of Summer

Garlic and basil perfumed the air in the small kitchen packed with squirming kids eating pasta around the old oak table. Some had bowls of bowties with red sauce and others had pasta with green flecks and soft white crumbs of feta. “Come on in and have a bowl ,”my friend shouted above the fray. Sadly, that pasta was not gluten free and I sat in the garlic scented cloud with no comforting bowl of goodness in front of me and watched my son eat his packed cheese sandwich on gluten-free bread. Dear friend that she is, she keeps a box of gf pasta in her pantry for the gluten free friends who visit. But it was late and they were almost done with the meal. When I asked what was on the pasta, she replied chopped and sauteed kale, feta and pesto she froze in ice cube trays this fall. As I swooned at the thought of it, she reached into her freezer and grabbed a couple cubes, popped them into a plastic bag and handed them to me. “Merry Christmas,” she grinned.

We tried her recipe last night and were transported back to summer despite the driveway coated in a sheet of ice and a forecast of snow for the next two days. I always tell myself that I will do that frozen pesto cube trick and then come fall, I wake to find the frost has taken the last of the basil in the night. This year I am making notes on my calendar while feeling contrite and wishing I had rescued the basil and preserved more of the local produce that was so plentiful in August and September. I will remind myself on my calendar to get with it and get some tomatoes frozen, pesto made, more blueberries into the freezer. My thinking is that if I remind myself how much I wanted these things in January, I will remember and feel motivated to do the freezing and preserving so next winter, I can taste the sun in January.

1 package Tinkyada pasta-we like shells and farfalle, cooked
1/2 cup crumbled feta-or more if you love feta
2-3 frozen pesto cubes or about 1/2 cup pesto
3 cups of chopped kale
2 cloves garlic minced
1-2 Tbs olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Saute rinsed and chopped kale with the minced garlic in olive oil until kale is tender. Stir kale, feta, and pesto into the cooked pasta. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve. 4-6 servings depending on whether teenagers are invited to dine.

I’m sharing this recipe in the Seasonal Sundays round-up at Real Sustenance.