Step 1: Go into the garden with your beloved and gather cooking greens. Spread them out on the outdoor table and admire them.
On this particular day, our yard offered up broccoli, perennial leeks, Tuscan kale, bok choy, spinach, Continental parsley (of course) and the funny little peas growing in the chook plantings. We also had some radishes (which I washed and ate straight away) and a few self-sown potatoes (which we turned into potato salad with homemade mayonnaise).
Step 2: Wash all the greens and chop them up. Defrost and cut up some of Diana and Ian’s garlic, and count out ten anchovy fillets. Have a little chilli oil on standby.
Step 3: Go to the pantry and choose a packet of fancy pasta. Put a big pot of salted water on the stove, and once it’s at a rolling boil, butta la pasta (throw in the pasta)…
Step 4: In a large wok (like this gorgeous red clay one from Emile Henry), heat up a generous slurp of oil and gently fry all the garlic, anchovies, chopped greens and a little chilli oil (if desired). Mix well, adding water as needed, and let it simmer gently with the lid on, stirring occasionally to stop it burning. Cook until soft and wilted, which should take about as long as the pasta needs to cook.
Step 5: Once the pasta is al dente, ladle a scoop of the cooking liquid into the garden sauce to loosen it, then stir the drained pasta into the sauce. Turn it over to coat evenly, drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil, and serve with cracked pepper and grated parmesan cheese. Enjoy!
Note: this recipe is an adaptation of Jamie Oliver’s Farfalle with Broccoli, Anchovies and Chilli (The Return of the Naked Chef), and it really does work best if there’s some broccoli in the mix of greens. It’s also the perfect recipe for using up all the little broccoli shoots that sprout late in the season after the main head has been harvested!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
What a beautiful dish! The best part is you using the beautiful things in your garden. It sounds so fresh and delicious :)
Tes, thank you! It’s wonderful to use things in the garden!
Seriously- you have more growing in your garden at the end of winter than I do at the end of summer!
That is a lovely pasta- and I do love your wok- I use an electric wok but I’m rather envious of a clay one in red!
That sounds both healthy and delicious, good combination. I have never seen a wok like that. Is it light like your other Emile Henry wares? Very pretty :D
Heidi, Joanna, I am in LOVE with my red clay wok! I couldn’t resist it – Peters of Kensington have it on sale for $68 reduced from $300 – AND it goes in the dishwasher and almost always comes out completely clean! The best thing is that it’s so pretty it can go straight onto the table.
Surprisingly for clay, it get blisteringly hot, and Jo, yes, it’s quite light compared to cast iron (although it probably weighs about the same as our old wok).
Did I mention I’m in love with my clay wok? ;-)
perfect and we do this each night too.. making endless stir fry’s with what we find.. isn’t it great! c
Cecilia, it’s like finding free food! I feel quite outdoorsy when we’ve been out “foraging”.. ;-)
A great recipe, and healthy…’butta la pasta’…it’s a saying we use often!!Have a great Sunday!
Yvette, thank you! Hope you have a great day too! :)
pasta and greens..a great combination..love it..
Yum!
Jane, Deb, thank you! It’s enough to keep even my carnivorous wolves happy!
These tasty meals fresh from the garden are my favourite kind of dinners! I do as you do and line them all up after washing to admire them and see what’s what. Looking forward to some more garden dinners as the weather warms up.
You’re a kindred spirit, Chris! :)
Ooh, Celia, you will get me into trouble one day.
I love the look of that lovely red wok and, as I am currently wok-free, I’m off to P of K for a spot of online shopping!
I am going straight to peters of Kensington to buy that wok! I hate how our wok looks rusted and gross and is so hard to clean. This one I could have on display!
I have a similar assortment of veges in my little terrace garden so I’ll definitely be whipping up this pasta. Yum!!
I wonder if it would work with pancetta or chorizo instead of anchovies? I’m not a big fan of anchovies.
Amanda, Claire, they have a black one too! I bought the red one, and my mum bought the black one! :)
Claire, I think it would work with chorizo or pancetta, but it would be different as the anchovies melt away and just add a saltiness to the dish.
My new wok is on its way! I went with boring black cause red doesn’t really work in my kitchen. I’m excited!
Claire, don’t forget to season it first! There are instructions stuck to the wok, but basically you need to pour in about an inch or so of milk, bring that to a boil then turn it off and allow the wok to cool before washing it. You only need to season it once before the first use! Have fun with it!
I just love the assortment of veggies you gathered from the garden!! Looks like a very yummy dish minus the anchovies. I do use the anchovy paste though, from a tube, and that doesn’t bother me. I’m surprised your family doesn’t complain of no meat. That’s unusual for most guys. I’m admiring your wok also. We don’t have one, but we love stir frys from our non-stick skillet:)
Mel, we love anchovies, particularly Small Man and I, but no-one minds them at all in this dish. They don’t mind the odd quasi-vegetarian meal.. :)
How rich you must feel Celia! You get a great sense of acheivement and adventure when you go foraging, don’t you? I must say I’m a bit in love with your wok too :)
Becca, I think you need to get one – it goes into the dishwasher which will make washing up much easier on your sore shoulder (tell BigJ that). :)
It’s such a thrill, isn’t it, Celia, to pick your very own vegetables from the garden – I’m always thrilled when I go out and find ‘vegetables’ – who’d a’thunk it – that we grew!
Jan, I know exactly what you mean. I walk around saying…”wow, we can eat that?” :)
Jamie Oliver is my favorite chef of all time, never had a bad recipe. :-)
Maz, I have to agree, I don’t think I’ve ever made a bad Jamie recipe either!
I made his strawberry salad the other night, perfect summer dish. The Boy loves his “Cheesy Leek” recipe.
Gorgeous, love all the goodies in your garden, the photo of the greens on the board is delicious. :) love a good pasta, and this is lovely and fresh looking. Great way to get the good for ya stuff into us. :)
Step six- eat with a big satisfied smile, knowing it’s delicious, and knowing yep…we grew that.
Anna, Brydie, thank you! :)
Broccoli and Chilli go so well! I make a broccoli pie sometimes (strataccia or something along those lines!). I’ll have to try the pasta version.
And Chef’s warehouse was fab :) Had to shop light because we only had carry on but I brought back a banneton to try. I eyed the Callebaut but it was just too heavy. (I loved that you could smell it from the next aisle though!)
Kat, I’m so glad you had fun there! I love those guys.. :)
How very special that you have all that growing in your garden Celia. We are waiting to find out about a new business contract before we make a final decision about what and if we are going to plant the garden again – not sure I can go without my herbs in the meanwhile though! Might have to just sneak in a few “have-to-haves’.
Have a happy week.
:-) Mandy
I love how productive your garden is and the utility you put it all to! This looks like a delicious quick pasta dish, and a pasta meal is always an excuse to indulge in the next new shape ;-)
I hope your chooks like continental parsley, it sounds as though you’re over-run with it!
Mandy, hope the new business things works out as you’d hoped! I’d struggle without the herbs now – have just made harissa with new season mint!
C, thank you! The chooks don’t mind the parsley, but it’s not their favourite..
I am positively green! I told Cindy this weekend that I am going to get some planter boxes as I really need home grown vegies :)
[…] thank Celia for this impulsive purchase and I am so excited about it. It is flame, microwave, oven and […]
Tandy, we’re growing all sorts of things in our enclosed verandah at the moment, in planter boxes, and we’ve just bought hessian bags from the coffee roaster to grow potatoes in!