After a long week of working late every night, I was finally able to cook some dinner! I ordered some local NY pasta from my CSA this week and was really excited to try it out. There’s definitely something special about cooking with local ingredients. You can taste the love and care put into every bite! I was craving a creamy pasta, so I made a nice lemony sauce to toss it in. I also added some pretty mushrooms I found at the corner store nearby and some fresh Swiss chard. The whole meal took about 20 minutes to make and was delicious!

Lemon Cream Sauce:
1 cup half & half
2 tablespoons butter
4-6 tablespoons olive oil
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
Salt, to taste

Other:
16 oz pasta of your choice! (I used gnocchi sardi)
6 oz mixed mushrooms
Small bunch Swiss Chard, de-stemmed and roughly chopped
1 cup pasta water (to use as needed)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Bring a pot of water to a boil, and cook pasta as instructed. While the pasta cooks, make the cream sauce.

Add the olive oil and butter to a pan over medium heat. When the butter has melted, add the garlic and cook for a minute or so. Next add the mushrooms and sauté for about 3-5 minutes, toss in the Swiss chard and cook for another 5 minutes or until the greens have cooked down a bit. Lastly, mix in the cream, Parmesan cheese, lemon juice, white pepper, and salt.

Drain the pasta and reserve a cup of the water. Toss the pasta in the lemon cream sauce, coating all the noodles well. If the sauce dries out at all, add small amounts of the pasta water until it has the consistency you want. Taste and salt and pepper as needed. Plate and sprinkle a little extra parmesan cheese and fresh parsley!