pasta with green sauce, a monday night dinner idea
you won't be throwing out those veggies after all! 🥦🧅🥬🧄
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This recipe is a little different than what I’d typically share, because I don’t know if I can actually call it a recipe. It’s more of a framework, a suggestion, a solution to a common problem. If you were to ask me “What is green sauce?” I might be tempted to respond “What isn’t green sauce?”
Green sauce is the result of necessity facilitating invention. It was a lucky find when there were simply too many vegetables in the fridge to eat before they went bad. Green sauce is chucking some stuff in a pot, and surprisingly something healthy AND delicious comes out. Green sauce is the answer to “how am I going to use all that spinach?”
Green sauce might even be a lifestyle.
See the thing is, ideally you wouldn’t have to go out of your way to buy all the ingredients it takes to make green sauce, because it is intended to use up any veggies that need to be eaten!
I’d say the nonnegotiables here are onions and garlic for the sake of flavor. If I were to give you a shopping list for a basic version of green sauce, it would read as follows:
Ingredients:
1-2 heads of broccoli
1 bag of spinach
1 large onion (quartered)
3 cloves of garlic (peeled)
1 cup of heavy cream
1 box of pasta
Salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese to taste
*and/or any other vegetables that you happen to have or enjoy, that include but are not limited to: mushrooms, peas, kale, bok choy, green beans, scallions, carrots, zucchini, sweet potato (peeled), microgreens, arugala, cabbage, turnip, and so on!
**You may want to avoid any greens that are usually served cold, such as cucumbers or iceberg lettuce, but they could still work if you want to use them - experiment away!
Instructions:
Salt a pot of water generously and bring to a boil.
Add your vegetables to the boiling water, chopped and peeled as necessary.
Boil the veggies until all are fork tender, about 10-15 minutes, or longer if needed.
Once tender, use a slotted spoon to scoop the veggies into a blender, this may need to be done in batches.
Blend until smooth.
Drain the veggie pot and prepare pasta water for the pasta of your choosing. Cook to package instructions.
Once veggies are blended, pour the (likely very hot and incredibly green) contents of the blender into a saucepan. Stir in heavy cream.
Allow to simmer for 8-10 minutes, stirring regularly.
Serve over pasta with plenty of parmesan cheese and garden herb & garlic salt.
Enjoy!
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