Merguez and Kale Pasta
Published April 19, 2024
- Total Time
- 40 to 45 minutes
- Prep Time
- 5 minutes
- Cook Time
- 35 to 40 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1tablespoon fennel seeds
- 1tablespoon cumin seeds
- 1tablespoon coriander seeds
- 5tablespoons olive oil
- 1pound ground beef, at least 20-percent fat
- 3garlic cloves, grated
- 2tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
- 2½ tablespoons sweet paprika
- 1tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1tablespoon dried mint
- Fine sea salt
- Ground black pepper
- 5cups coarsely chopped kale leaves
- 2cups store-bought or homemade marinara sauce
- 1pound dry linguine
- Grated or shredded Parmesan for serving
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
492 calories; 23 grams fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 1 gram trans fat; 12 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 53 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 7 grams sugars; 19 grams protein; 487 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Toast the fennel, cumin and coriander seeds in a dry frying pan over medium for about 3 minutes or until fragrant; transfer to a plate to cool. Pour seeds into a spice (or coffee) grinder or mortar to finely grind the seeds. Set aside until ready to use. You can prepare this mixture in advance and keep it in a container for up to 7 days.
- Step 2
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high. Add the beef, ground fennel, cumin and coriander mixture, garlic, cilantro, paprika, sugar, mint, 1¼ teaspoons salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, for about 7 minutes or until it is no longer pink. Add the kale and 3 tablespoons of water. Cook, stirring to combine, for about 5 minutes or until the kale begins to soften. Add the marinara and leave to cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally and reducing heat if sauce begins to boil.
- Step 3
Meanwhile, cook the pasta: Place a large pot of water over high heat, add 1 tablespoon salt and bring to a boil. Cook the pasta until almost al dente, reserving 1 cup of cooking water, and drain.
- Step 4
Pour the pasta into the sauce pot. Stir to combine, adding a couple tablespoons of cooking water at a time until the sauce nicely coats the pasta. Remove from heat, taste and season with salt and serve, with Parmesan on side, right away.
Private Notes
Comments
Used 3 cups of marinara and an extra tablespoon of sugar, reduced the salt a little and skipped the Parmesan and found it perfectly met the description of the recipe as a Bolognese with extra warmth. The kale looks like a lot, but I’ll double it next time. Passes the next day leftover test re-heated with some saved pasta water.
For a tad healthier, I doubled the meat (15% fat, not greasy), increased the spices by a multiple of 1/2 except for the sweet paprika added 1 Tbsp smoked paprika, nixed the sugar (there is plenty in the marinara), reduced salt to my taste, doubled the kale, used chickpea fusilli (put it in at the end and be gentle when stirring, it is fragile), added more water along the way, and skipped the parmesan. The family loves it--we try Mediterranean foods frequently and appreciate the forward spices.
I’d like to try this as written, but my wife is vegetarian so I substituted an excellent mix of mushrooms I was fortunate to find at the farmers market in Carlsbad CA. Rather than canned marinara I prepared the simple but better recipe from NYTimes. Prepped mushrooms first with dry heated sauté pan then a little butter, olive oil, garlic. My conclusion from this experiment is that this recipe provides some great ideas to make a hearty, tomato based pasta sauce with a novel flavor profile.
I tweaked this into merguez meatballs on the grill—I followed the ingredients for the meat, skipped the kale and pasta, and served the meatballs over saffron rice with tomatoes and garlicky yogurt. It was superb.
I love the call for bottled marinara, which these days can be quite good. Making marinara from scratch is easy, but narrowing the bandwidth my brain reserves for cooking made this interesting, delicious dish almost criminally quick and easy. 20 minutes, in total: I began by boiling water and then proceeded exactly as written (which I rarely do).
I made this from start to finish including making the marinara from scratch in 40 minutes. I think if you already had the marinara made and have more than 2 burners so you can boil the pasta while the sauce is cooking, you can slim this down to a tight 30! Is it my most favoritest pasta dish ever? No. Is it tasty, warming on a cool winter evening, and surprisingly fast? Yes yes and yes.