Peace and Carrots Garden and Kitchen Partnership

Mike and Michael Wolfsen started a beautiful gardening program by building the Peace and Carrots Garden. It was originally designed to help feed needy neighbors by individuals growing a little bit more than what they needed and donating the extra to a community effort. While that program has proven to be productive with thousands of pounds of produce delivered to our local food bank, we recently have been using extra produce in our Hope for Home meals.  Monday, May 31, was one of those days when we offered Hope for Home a true Farm to Table experience. Eight pounds of Swiss Chard was the inspiration for the meal we made and served to 80 Hope for Home participants. The new garden management team consisting of Kristi Karns, Debra Kniesley and Corlan Harrison are incredibly grateful for the commitment the Wolfsen’s made to creating a program of community effort to feed hungry folks.

Michael Symon’s Orecchiette with Sausage and Swiss Chard

Ingredients

1 lb Orecchiette Pasta (we used Bow Tie Pasta)

1 lb Spicy or mild Italian Sausage

1 lb Swiss Chard roughly chopped with stems

1 cup Cooked Cannellini Beans (drained and rinsed)

8 oz Pasta water

½ cup Chopped parsley

1 T Lemon zest

2 T Lemon juice

½ cup Parmesan cheese

2 T Butter

1T Extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

Bring 6 quarts of water toa boil with 3 tablespoons of kosher salt. Cook pasta until very al dente, about 8 minutes. Remove pasta to a bowl with a slotted spoon and set aside. Do not rinse pasta and reserve one cup of pasta water.

Heat a large Dutch Oven over medium heat. Add the sausage and brown. Add Swiss Chard and cook down for 2 minutes add reserved pasta water and simmer for another minute. Add the beans and pasta simmer for an additional 2 minutes. 

Remove pan from heat and stir in the lemon juice and zest, cheese, parsley, butter and extra virgin olive oil. It’s ready to serve! Enjoy!!