Green noodles

Sounds a bit like Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham, doesn’t it? Don’t be misled. When Jordan was recovering from Covid this week, the first meal she wanted was green noodles, a favorite of both my girls since their schooldays. I don’t remember the boys liked it as much. But it’s such an old recipe that I’m sure I’ve presented it here before, and I make it from scratch, so amounts will be approximate. Adjust to the number you’re serving.

There is a story behind this: Chefs don’t just follow recipes from Julia Child and James Beard and others—they develop their own recipes. Me? I follow other people’s ideas, which is why I’m a cook and not a chef. But green noodles is one recipe I can claim to have developed. The story begins when I was in graduate school and living with my brother and his then-wife in a small, Missouri town.

She told the story of one evening, before they married, when John was coming for supper, and she had no grocery money. She cooked with what was in the fridge and pantry, and the result was spaghetti in lemon butter—she called it meatless spaghetti. John and her children liked it well enough that she fixed it often, and when I left, I took the idea (it wasn’t really a recipe) with me in my head. Gradually over the years, I added things. First, was to substitute spinach fettucine for spaghetti; then I added sliced mushrooms (they soak up the lemon and are delicious); because we love them, I chopped and drained a can of artichoke hearts and added that; next came chopped green onions and a fat garlic clove sliced; then I added an ice-cub size hunk of pesto (I sometimes freeze it in an ice cube tray). Somewhere along the way I began to  sprinkle fresh grated parmesan on the dish just before serving (these days I prefer pecorino). And that’s it—my signature dish!

Ingredients

16 oz. Spinach fettucine (will serve four generously)

1 stick real butter, salted

1 fat garlic clove

4 green onions, chopped

1 can quartered artichoke hearts (not marinated)

½ lb. baby Bella mushrooms, wiped clean and sliced, stems discarded (you can choose to include the stems if you trim off the end)

1 Tbsp. pesto (optional)

Juice of one lemon (you might start with less and taste—a whole lemon gets it very lemony)

Fresh grated parmesan or pecorino

Cook, drain, and rinse noodles. Melt butter in a skillet. (Megan, weight-conscious in high school, used to insist that was too much butter, and it may be, but it’s so good.) Sauté the mushrooms, artichoke hearts, scallions and garlic in the butter. Add lemon juice and pesto. Finally add noodles and toss to coat. Reheat just until noodles are warm again. Top with Parmesan. I serve it in soup plates and often offer crusty baguette slices.

A meatless, one-dish meal.