30 Minute Holiday Pasta

The combination of bright red cherry tomatoes and the forest green colour of sauteed kale come together to make this 30 Minute Holiday Pasta! Perfectly cooked pasta is tossed in a salted butter and garlic sauce with aromatic herbs – simple and delicious!

Kale is not usually associated with comfort food, but when it is combined with pasta in a buttery, garlicky sauce, it most certainly can be comforting! If you don’t believe me, you must try this 30 Minute Holiday Pasta and prove me otherwise. It’s so delicious and it can be on your table tonight in 30 minutes or less!

The more I blog about food, the more I learn about how food grows and gets to our dinner table.  Take kale, for instance.  I always thought that kale was a summer product, but it turns out, that kale is a fall harvest; in fact, it can grow well into the winter.  Last summer was the first time I tried my hand at growing kale. I grew two types. The first was the common curly green kale that you see in this recipe here. The other was a deep purple kale called red Russian, which to be honest, I found to be chewier and not a texture that I cared much for. This upcoming summer, I’m sticking to the common green!

If you are 100% against the idea of incorporating kale into your pasta recipe, you could substitute it with swiss chard if that’s more to your liking. You can also use spinach, but because spinach cooks and wilts much faster than chard or kale, I would highly recommend you not add it to the dish until you add in the tomatoes.

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So, welcome, Dear Reader, to the start of my annual holiday-themed recipes. Traditionally, every year I share a series of recipes that you might already be familiar with. For example, I’ve previously shared 12 Holiday Trifles, 12 Holiday Bars & Squares, and even these 12 Edible Holiday Wreath recipes! Also, some of my favourite recipe collections from previous years are my 75 Homemade Gifts from Your Kitchen, my 50 Make Ahead Freezer Friendly Christmas Recipes, and my 30 No-Bake Christmas Recipes post.

This year I’m doing it differently. Rather than sharing multiple back to back series, I’m sharing a new holiday-themed recipe almost every day from now until Christmas Eve. For those of you who have followed my annual Lord Byron’s 24 Cookies of Christmas series, don’t worry, you will still get lots of new cookie recipes this year too. I will not, however, be publishing the cookies back to back in a 24-day series. This would have been my 8th year running the series and it becomes very exhausting, so this year, I’m spreading the recipes out so that I’m not sharing the same type of recipe every day.

You really don’t want to miss one of these recipes, so if you have not yet subscribed to Lord Byron’s Kitchen, I encourage you to do so. That way, a new recipe will be emailed to you every day. You won’t have to bother to come looking for it! And, just in case you’re curious, you can see previous annual posts for my 24 Cookies of Christmas Series here!

INGREDIENTS NEEDED TO PREPARE THIS RECIPE

The following is a list of the ingredients needed to prepare this recipe. For exact amounts and measurements, refer to the printable recipe card located near the bottom of this post.

• Pasta – I’m using bowtie, but any pasta shape will do.
• Butter
• Garlic – Use fresh garlic cloves for the best result.
• Kale – See notes below on using fresh versus frozen kale.
• Salt & Ground Black Pepper 
• Cherry Tomatoes – Any little tomato will do here such as grape tomatoes or mini heirlooms.
• Fresh Herbs – You will need summer savoury and fresh thyme leaves.
• Parmesan – As I have mentioned so many times before, freshly grated parmesan is best, but the stuff in the can will work here too.

HOW TO MAKE TOMATO AND KALE SPAGHETTI

Prepare the pasta according to the package instructions. Drain and set aside. Next, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic, kale, salt, and ground black pepper. Stir to combine and cook for just two minutes.

Next, add the tomatoes, summer savoury, thyme, and cooked pasta. Stir well and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes or until the pasta is reheated. Remove the pasta from the heat and stir through the parmesan cheese. Plate and garnish. Serve immediately.

YOU CAN USE FROZEN CHOPPED KALE TOO!

Not everyone likes the idea of chopping and washing kale before making a pasta dinner. If that’s you, you can easily substitute the fresh kale with frozen chopped kale. It is easy to find frozen chopped kale in the freezer section of most grocery chains. I used fresh kale here because as I previously mentioned, I grew it in my backyard. Oftentimes though, I will use frozen kale and it never disappoints.

Using fresh kale will just mean that you’ll have to chop it and wash it really well. Taking that route will only add a few minutes to your prep time. But, if coming home from work and needing to get a good dinner on the table without piling up the dishes is not favourable, opt for frozen kale. At the end of the day, the choice is yours.

Please note that if you do decide to use frozen chopped kale, you can treat it just like fresh kale in this recipe. Because frozen kale will have more moisture, so you will need to saute the kale, garlic, salt, and ground black pepper for a couple of minutes longer. If you have any leftover kale, why not try my Brown Rice with Kale or my Potato and Kale Gratin!?

HOW TO REHEAT LEFTOVER PASTA

Reheating leftover pasta is always a risk because overcooked pasta can easily become gluey and not very satisfying to bite into. Whenever you are reheating pasta, the best way to combat a not-so-favourable texture is to add more fat. Here’s how I do it.

For this type of pasta, I would add a teaspoon of butter to a skillet along with one tablespoon of water. Over medium heat, allow the butter to melt. Once melted, add the leftover pasta to the skillet and place a lid on it. Wait for 2 minutes and then use tongs to toss the pasta, loosening it up and mixing that melted butter and water with the pasta and sauce. If it’s still too dry, add a little bit of olive oil and put the lid back on for another minute or two.

Toss again and continue to do this until the pasta is fully reheated and the sauce has transformed its way back to a glistening consistency. Plate, garnish, and get it into your belly!

QUESTIONS?

If I have not answered all of your questions in the text above, don’t hesitate to reach out to me! You can contact me by sending me a message in the comments section further down the page. I will try my best to answer as soon as possible! You might reach me even faster by following me on Facebook and sending me a private message. Scroll down below the recipe card to find my Follow Me on Social Media box and never miss another recipe!