Roasted Marble Potatoes with Red Chard and Pasta #KitchenMatrixCookingProject

Today is our second post of April for our Kitchen Matrix Project, named after Mark Bittman's Kitchen Matrix cookbook. You can read about it: here. This month, Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm picked the recipes. And I was very excited about the dishes and the bloggers who are joining us.

Last week, you might remember that I misplaced my cookbook, so I didn't post a recipe. This weekend, after returning from yet another multi-day, out-of-town robotics competition, I was still without my copy. Then D asked if I would play a board game with him. There, in the stack of all our games, was my cookbook. I'm just relieved to have my book though Wendy did send me photos of the pages I needed.

The #KitchenMatrixCookingProject Pasta Bowl

An InLinkz Link-up

We eat a lot of pasta. Given that I learned to cook in Italy, pasta is on our table at least two or three times a week. Sometimes we roll our own, such as these homemade orecchiette, rombi, and pastas with lemon zest and squid ink; plus they are gnocchi-masters - here, here, and here! But, on a busy weekend night, I'll grab a box of Barilla. And, in the time it takes the pasta to cook, I can whip up a quick sauce with fresh tomatoes and basil.

But Bittman offers 8 different pasta combinations that are just as quick and easy. I will definitely be trying them all. Tonight I whipped up two of the 8, but I wanted to share the pasta with roasted potatoes and chard. I was oddly skeptical, thinking, "That's a lot of starch!" Then I remembered that one of my favorite pizzas is Pizza con Patate...why is that any different?

Roasted Marble Potatoes with Red Chard and Pasta

Ingredients

• 1 pound marble potatoes, halved or larger potatoes diced
• 2 T olive oil, divided, + more for serving
• freshly ground salt
• pasta (I used Barilla's thick spaghetti)
• 1 bunch organic red chard
• 1 organic onion, peeled and diced, approximately 1 C
• parmesan for serving

Procedure
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place potatoes in a medium mixing bowl. Sprinkle with salt and add 1 T olive oil. Toss to coat potatoes in oil and transfer to a roasting pan. Roast potatoes until tender on the inside and crisped on the outside, approximately 30 minutes.

In the meantime, cook the pasta. Chop the chard stems and leaves, but keep them separate. Heat skillet and add 1 T olive oil. Cook the onion until softened and beginning to turn translucent. Stir in the chard stems and cook until they soften, approximately 2 minutes. Add in the leaves and cook until tender, approximately 5 minutes.

Add the roasted potatoes into the chard mixture. Add in the cooked pasta and toss until the potatoes and chard are evening distributed throughout the dish. Serve immediately with a block of cheese that diners can grate on their own.

Pronto al tavolo!