Steamed Kale and White Bean Pasta - Super Easy!

I am currently sitting on a train on my way back to the city feeling full and satisfied. I’m coming from my parent’s house up in Marlboro, NY where they normally follow the normal Italian guidelines in cooking. (In other words, my family is far from vegan.) However, when I come home, my mom will graciously make a meal just for me that is delicious and totally vegan.  Today when it was time to prepare our lunch, my mom pulled out a large bundle of kale and asked if I’d like to prepare a dish with it. kale is a food that I had never even tried before going vegan but now eat at least once a week. It’s something that cooks quick and easy and is amazing for you! So naturally, I was on board to try a new dish using kale.

My mom is what I like to call a food innovator. Every time she prepares a meal, she tries something a little differently than the last time she prepared it. She very rarely measures anything and doesn’t use a cookbook – mind blowing! Today, she coached me through this simple recipe that she made up on the spot. It includes the following ingredients which made 4 servings:

1 large bundle of kale
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
About 1/2 cup of vegetable broth (again, she didn't measure so I just eyed it)
About 2 Tablespoons of EVOO
1 can of white beans (juice included)
Fresh pepper (use as much as you like)
A pinch of iodized salt
4 cups of pasta

Using a large pot, the first step was to boil water for the pasta. While waiting for the water to boil, we prepared the kale by washing the bundle, putting it into a separate pot with the vegetable broth and olive oil, and covering after stirring. Next step was to add the chopped garlic and entire can of beans into the kale mix after it had cooked down for 5 minutes. We cracked fresh pepper and added a pinch of salt for taste. By now, our water was boiling in the first pot and it was time to add our pasta. After 8 to 10 minutes, our pasta was ready to be strained and the meal was ready to be served. If you like it spicy like us, you can add hot pepper.

It was delicious and totally satisfying. The broth-oil-bean combination made the sauce taste like a butter sauce. This dish is a nutrient complete dish without adding any animal byproducts and could be even better for you when used with whole grain pasta – but that would never happen at my parents’ house ;)

Mama D’Orazio tip: We waited to add the garlic until it was almost done so it wouldn’t over cook and burn. Garlic gives a more bitter taste if cooked until browned.