Orecchiette with Chorizo and Swiss Chard

Our garden is producing like crazy.  We put in six Swiss chard plants and only one made it.  But, it's glorious.  And, the romaine lettuce is so beautiful.  Peas are coming on.  We've got a few baby tomatoes.  The mesclun mix is taking over.  And, we've got almost a whole bed of arugula.  A veritable bounty of veggies.  Connie's been bugging me to please use the Swiss chard.  I'd thawed a pound of lamb stew meat from our friend's at Viking Lamb to make Giggles, The Kitchen Witch's lamb stew for later this week.  It's a dish that's better left overnight.  That meant I still needed something for dinner...  And, I really needed to be thinking about lunch too since what's left at the office is all frozen or canned. 

I knew there was a lamb recipe in Carnivore (Michael Symon) that son David wanted me to make.  My memory did not serve me well because I was convinced it was lamb stew.  So, I hunted for the cookbook to compare that recipe to Giggles.  Well, now, as I looked thru I saw a recipe for Orecchiette with Chorizo and Swiss Chard.  Score.  I didn't have chorizo but I did have about a pound of pulled pork.  My guess was that I could toss about half a pound of that with the chorizo spices and be good to go.  I went back to the chorizo recipe from Hoosier Mama.  We made this a couple of months ago and totally loved it.  And, since I was using pulled pork, I substituted pinto beans.  There.   I had a plan.  Dinner for Sunday.  Dinner for Monday.  And, lunch for Monday was on it's way...

What did we think?  We absolutely loved this.  I wasn't sure the flavors would all work together but they certainly did.  This was so easy to make and for us used mostly pantry ingredients or ingredients that could easily be substituted, my guess is it'll become one of our go-to meals. 

Orecchiette with Chorizo and Swiss Chard

Ingredients:

1 lb dried orecchiette pasta (I used half as much)
1 lb fresh chorizo sausage, removed from the casing (see spices below if you're subbing pulled pork)
1 lb Swiss chard with stems, roughly chopped
1 c cannellini beans (I used pinto)
grated zest and juice of one lemon
1/2 c freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 c chopped fresh leaf parsley
2 T unsalted butter
1 T extra-virgin olive oil

spices I used for the pulled pork:
2 t sweet paprika
2 t finely chopped fresh oregano
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1 t kosher salt
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1/2 t granulated sugar
1/2 t ground cumin
1/2 t freshly ground black pepper
1/4 t ground nutmeg
1 T red wine vinegar

Directions:

Start a large pot of water boiling.  Once it's ready to go, add the pasta.  Cook it for a couple of minutes less than the package directions.  If you're using the chorizo, brown and drain it.  If you're using the pulled pork, toss it with the spices and set it aside. 

Either add the chopped Swiss chard to the chorizo or put a good drizzle of olive oil in a large skillet, heat it to shimmering and add the Swiss chard.  Once it's wilted, add 1/4 c of the pasta water, the beans, pasta and butter. 

If you're using pulled pork, add it at this time too.  Cook all of that until the pasta is al dente.  Then, remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the lemon zest and juice, the parsley, extra virgin olive oil and the parsley.

Basic recipe from Carnivore.  Chorizo spices from Hoosier Mama Book of Pie