Linguine with Roasted Chicken, Greens, Currants and Pine Nuts

Well hello again! It seems like a lifetime since I’ve been here, though in reality it’s only been about 2 months. Little Miss A is a real joy, changing so much each week, just starting to break into smiles, drinking in the world around her — she’s so much fun to get to know. We’re still in the throes of newborn care (my love affair with coffee has been rekindled after all these night wakings) but it’s amazing how much you learn about your little one in such a short time. I have also become quite adept at typing with one hand…my computer is my lifeline to the outside world for the moment. And my camera has of late switched subjects — from food to this little cutie (I can’t resist sharing!):

Even though I haven’t yet been able to do much extended cooking in the kitchen, I’m figuring out how to get back into the swing of things. And luckily, there are some dishes I had made before she arrived that will be fun to tell you about in the meantime. The first is a dish I’ve made countless times throughout the past year, ever since I read about it in the NYTimes Dining section: do you remember the article where Kim Severson and Julia Moskin were challenged to throw a dinner party on a $50 budget? One of the dishes that Julia Moskin made was a simple pasta dish of roasted chicken, currants and pine nuts, flavored with rosemary. The ingenious part of the recipe is its use of the chicken drippings and golden fat (yum!) to create the “sauce” for the pasta — and let me tell you, it is delicious. After the chicken has roasted and is resting, you tear it up into bite-sized pieces (frankly, this is my preferred way of getting the meat off a roasted chicken anyway, at least when I’m  not concerned about presentation. There’s something so visceral and satisfying about tearing the meat off the bones, and you can get a lot more of the meat off than you can through carving.) You then toss the pasta, currants, pine nuts and chicken (along with some of the chicken skin, if that’s how you roll — and it is definitely is in our house) together in the roasting pan with a bit of rosemary, deglazing with a bit of the pasta cooking water. The result is luscious, savory, and unique enough to be a memorable dish for guests or just for your weekly dinner rotation — it’s a favorite of ours on a Sunday evening.

We’re lucky to be getting a few winter CSA shares this year — our vegetable share from Full Plate Farm Collective, our fruit share from Finger Lakes Fruit Bowl, and our meat share from High Point Farms. We get some kind of green in the vegetable share every week (I cherish these bright green bundles in the winter especially, when most of what we see is root vegetables) as well as a whole chicken in our meat share that comes monthly. I’ve been adding chopped greens to this pasta dish, and I think it’s a great tweak – nutritious and pretty with the pops of green strewn throughout the noodles. You can vary the nuts as well, though I do like the taste of pine nuts with the chicken and rosemary…but I’ve also used toasted pumpkin seeds to great effect.

Whatever variations you use, it’s a fabulous one-pot meal that feeds a crowd and hits the spot during these cold, frigid days…especially after we come in from our afternoon walk and remove all the bundling!

___________________________________________________________________________________

Adapted from the New York Times

You can use whatever greens you have on hand in this pasta, though I find I like swiss chard, collards, or dinosaur kale best (curly kale might be a bit tough and bitter in the dish.) Feel free to try different nuts or seeds for texture; I like the toasted pine nuts as well as pumpkin seeds.

Ingredients

1 whole chicken (you can also use bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs)

1 bunch of dark leafy greens, such as swiss chard, collards or dinosaur kale

1 pound linguine (or other noodle such as spaghetti, fettuccine or bucatini)

1 small onion or 2 leeks, sliced

1/2 cup currants or raisins

2/3 cup toasted pine nuts

2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions

Roast a chicken according to your favorite method – I’m currently using Thomas Keller’s simple recipe.

When the chicken comes out of the oven, remove the chicken to a cutting board and let it rest for 20 minutes.  When the chicken has rested, pull the meat off the bones (I just use my clean hands!) and break it into bite-sized pieces. Chop some of the crispy chicken skin if desired; set the meat and skin aside.

Cook the linguine, drain it and set it aside, reserving about a cup of the pasta cooking water.

Set the roasting pan (with the drippings and fat that accumulated when you roasted the chicken) back on the stove, over two burners. In the roasting pan over medium-high heat, add the onion or leek and saute until softened. Add the chopped greens and currants (or raisins) and saute until the greens are wilted but still bright green. Add the pieces of roasted chicken and skin (if using) as well as the chopped rosemary. Add the pasta, tossing it around to coat it with the chicken juices and fat (add a little of the reserved pasta cooking water if it looks like it needs to be moistened). Finally, toss in the toasted pine nuts and fresh parsley.

Serves about 6.