Aug 29- Aug 31 Spaghetti with Green Beans and Arugula

Aug 29     Dinner out with Dianne and the girls at Table 17

Aug 30     Pasta with green beans and arugula

Aug 31     salad with a grilled chicken breast

The Kid and I took The Neighbour to see The Help late on Tuesday afternoon (that's a lot of The's) and didn't get home from the movie until almost 6:30. I had not eaten anything all day and was starving (thankfully, Little Shack lunched on a bag of swedish berries so he wasn't as bad off as I was). I am still recovering from the Big Fat Hindu Wedding followed by dinner out at Table 17 and just couldn't even look at food all day. You know I am in a bad way when I didn't even have popcorn because anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE movie popcorn with a fiery, hot passion. I love movie popcorn so much that I have seen Shark Boy and Lava Girl just for the popcorn. That's love.

Because I have been away and the boys ate sushi the entire weekend, the cupboards were pretty bare. There was a bunch of dried pasta, a handful of green beans, one tomato, garlic and another handful of baby arugula. I thought there was some chicken stock but there wasn't and I was NOT going to open a bottle of white wine because I am never drinking again and an open bottle of wine would need drinking. I was just going to do olive oil and the veggies and then I spotted the evaporated milk. I have used it a few times in creamy sauce type things so I grabbed that and it was perfect.

Simple, not even a recipe really but surprisingly tasty and we were both pretty happy to eat it. Some of my favourite dishes have been born out of pure desperation, a bare fridge and rumbly belly.

Spaghetti with Green Beans and Arugula

serves 2-3

about 90g pasta per person

olive oil

1 clove garlic

1/2 onion, diced

a big handful of green beans

a big handful of baby arugula

1/2 large tomato, diced 

about 1/4 cup of EVAPORATED 2% milk

freshly grated parmesan

freshly ground black pepper

Bring a big pot of salted water to a boil. While that is happening, wash your beans and snap the ends off. Give the arugula a rinse and set that aside as well.

Dice your onion, chop your garlic and then chop your tomato.

Heat a large sauté pan over medium high heat.

Once the water boils, add your pasta, pour a good glug of olive oil into the sauté pan and throw in the onion and the garlic. Cook until the onion softens and just starts to colour a bit. Add the green beans and stir that around for another couple of minutes. At this point, your pasta is getting close to being done so add the tomatoes to the sauté pan and let that all cook until the tomatoes start to melt and the green beans are pretty much cooked (I like them to stay pretty crunchy - if you need your green beans to be soft, you can always parboil them). 

At this point, your pasta is only a minute or two from being done. Add about 1/4 cup evaporated milk to the sauté pan, give it a good stir and add the drained spaghetti to the pan so it can finish cooking in the sauce.

It will only take a minute or two for that to happen. Add the arugula and give it another good stir and remove from heat. Let it side for the time it takes you to grab a couple of shallow bowls and get the chunk of cheese. Serve up the pasta, grate some fresh parmesan over the top and add a good grind of black pepper.