Beggar's Pasta

(Cliccate qua per la versione italiana di questo post.)

The most delicious recipe in the world is that which you make from the stuff that you would have thrown away.

In my preceding post, I made a pork stock.  Look what a beautiful bronze color it was!  

I was talking about broccoli rabe stalks, which were cooking in this stock for a long time.  Other people throw away these stalks, because they're hard and very bitter.  (The stalks, not the other people.)  After cooking in my stock, they were soft and very tasty!  I said in that post that, one of these days, I would make them with pasta. 

Every stock emits a certain schmalz which rises to the top.  In this case, because one of the meats was salt pork, just imagine how much lard I extracted! 

To say that this dish was an example of la cucina povera seemed like an understatement.  Thus my title: beggar's pasta!  

Ingredients

1 lb pasta mista (or whatever pasta you like)
the stalks of one bunch of broccoli rabe (Swish chard, broccoli, collard greens, kale, etc.), already boiled in stock (or water)
2 TB lard (or extra-virgin olive oil)
1 clove garlic, chopped fine (NOT pressed)
1/2 C (4 oz.) pork stock (or turkey,  chicken, beef, etc.)
2 slices lemon
2 fette limone
freshly grated pecorino
freshly ground black peper (optional)
crushed red pepper (optional)

Preparation

Sauté the garlic in the lard.  Add the already-cooked pasta and the other ingredients, and buon appetito!

Here is the same recipe with red Swiss chard stalks.  Stupendously tasty!

Here I used stalks of red Swiss chard and of red dandelions, both braised in homemade chicken stock. I didn't have lemons in the fridge. But I had borlotti (pinto beans). After taking the photo, I added a good pecorino. (You can't use parmesan or grana here; it has to be pecorino, without exception.)