Farmer Fettuccine with Kale Pesto + Roasted Maitake Mushrooms

This is part 2 of a feature on my incredibly delicious experience with Mike’s Organic Delivery. You can find part 1 here. And as a reminder, Mike is offering local Big Flavors readers some really wonderful discounts – use coupon code “bigflavor” for $10 off any 1 time order or “bigflavor100” for $100 off any full summer season package. Shop now!

Celebrate spring’s bounty with this gorgeously green bowl of farm fresh, vegan comfort food!

My first basket from Mike’s Organic Delivery had so many local goodies inside. I was so surprised to find pasta and cheese in addition to the fruits and veggies!

I couldn’t wait to try out the Farmer Fettuccine from Northern Farmhouse Pasta. I picked up some of their Bourbon Barrel Cracked Pepper Pappardele up in Woodstock after a 5k I ran quite a while ago and absolutely loved it (which reminds me, I need to write up that recipe – it was super tasty and contained lobster! Thankfully, I take copious notes while I’m cooking in my tiny kitchen!).

Mike recommended roasting the maitakes, and I knew I didn’t want to do a super heavy sauce that might mask the flavor of the mushrooms.

Since I also had a nice amount of kale to work with, I decided to make pesto out of it. This meal comes together pretty easily. You can toast the pine nuts and make the pesto while the mushrooms, onions and garlic are roasting.

My 4-year-old helped with the entire process, and it was a blast! He was so excited to eat our fresh green pesto, especially after learning that the kale was growing on a local farm that very morning!

I was going to add Parmesan to this dish but decided to add in some nutritional yeast instead. It gives the pesto a much needed saltiness but keeps it totally vegan. It’s a great alternative that adds a nice umami flavor (totally complimenting the mushrooms) and is a pantry staple.

In this recipe, the pasta, kale, onion, maitake mushrooms were all from the farm basket. I only had to add in a few pantry items to round it out and make a totally delicious dinner.

My family really enjoyed this meal! The frilly edges of the mushrooms got nice and toasty and kind of nutty, which go so well with the toasted pine nuts in the pesto.

Reserving some of the pasta cooking liquid is the perfect way to heat up the uncooked sauce and help it bind to the pasta.

This dish was bright, vibrant and full of spring flavor. It’s definitely one we’d make again!

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