👋+: Making Pasta with Spring Greens

foraging, three green pastas + a three-in-one Q&A

Allô! 👋

Welcome (back) to the seasonal sundays section of the good food at home newsletter, where every week we take a closer peek at produce at its peak — with a short introduction, a recipe, and a (sometimes related) cooking Q&A. If you would like to further support the newsletter and help it grow, feel free to hit the like button, leave a comment, refer a friend, or share the newsletter via the button below!

Happy Sunday! I hope you’re all having a very relaxing and pleasant weekend. This week, we’re putting the focus on spring greens (I first considered featuring asparagus — our local spears have only just popped up in stores this week! — but instead I’ve got you covered on that topic in today’s cooking Q&A down below).

dandelion greens — the secret to palatable leaves seems to be to pick dandelions that have grown in a shady and well-watered area, and to focus on a plant’s tender young shoots

Now, by spring greens, I don’t specifically mean the young fresh cabbage shoots which are actually called “spring greens” (Brassica oleracea), though I might as well include them in my round-up. No, what we’re talking about here this week are spring greens more broadly — those young, tender, leafy greens that are often the first new edible things to pop up in spring.

invasive species like the Turkish rocket above make great candidates for a responsible forager on the prowl!

I say “pop up” very intentionally, because that really is what they seem to do: one day the ground looks barren, and then the next day, suddenly, they’re there. They grow shockingly fast, making the most of the increased daylight of spring all while racing against the blazing warmth of summer. When immature, a lot of these greens can be sweet and subtle and gentle on the palate (at least, compared to their more mature counterparts — think of tatsoi, spinach, sorrel, miner’s lettuce, arugula, watercress, as well as radish and turnip tops). Once fully grown, they often range from astringent and bitter to downright spicy and inedible. Hence why the time to seize them is now†.

†at least, it still is up here in my climate zone

forest floors all over Norway’s southern coasts are finally bursting with ramsløk (i.e. ramsons or wild garlic)

The other reason why I used the term “pop up” to refer to these greens is that I’ve been accidentally (and literally) stumbling across them in the wild all week. I’ll be out in my neighbourhood and suddenly notice familiar green stuff that wasn’t there a few days before. I’ll come back the next day and take some pictures, do some research, try my best to ID the thing until I am 100% certain of its nature. Then I’m out again, this time armed with a basket, a thick gardening glove, and a little harvesting knife — or, if I’m intent on jogging for part of the journey, a pair of scissors and a flimsy bag tucked into a zipped pocket instead. (I know, I know, running with scissors, but at least I’m not running with a knife!!) Next thing I knew, I’d scooped up some stinging nettles, dandelion, and Turkish rocket‡ all because I happened to catch sight of new green things popping up around me — no gardening required.

‡also known as warty cabbage… doesn’t exactly have the same ring to it, though

thick gardening gloves come in handy when handling prickly prizes like stinging nettles

Most of you may not be as keen on foraging bitter and biting leaves as I am, but don’t worry, I like to shop in stores and buy good old spinach, baby kale, and arugula too.

While these greens are often touted as a healthy choice (you likely don’t need me to tell you that they are incredibly nutrient-dense), I should also hope that you might also find them appealing because of their taste, beauty, and ephemeral nature.

Including them in our meals represents not only a great opportunity to give our bodies a little health boost, it can also be a fun and delicious way to diversify our diets all while celebrating and embracing nature’s changing rhythms.

loot as the result of an observant neighbourhood stroll: stinging nettles, dandelion, and Turkish rocket

Young spring greens can be nice in salads, though I do generally prefer to cook them a little, or at least dress them generously before enjoying them (as with mature kale, a little massage goes a long way too).

If not making a salad or stir-frying them, however, my next favourite way of enjoying them is in, on, and through pasta:

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green pasta, three ways

I’m not sure why, but eating your greens is a lot more fun when you turn your whole meal green. Below I’ll show you how I’ve made green pasta, green sauce, as well as an extra green combination of the two. If you prefer to stir the sauce through risotto or use the wet ingredients for the green pasta as a base for a green omelette instead, be my guest. So long as you’re making good food and having good fun, it’s entirely up to you how you choose to get there.

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fresh green pasta dough

serves 4