Pasta with Kielbasa and Lambsquarters

This is a very easy and delicious one pot meal featuring our kielbasa. It also uses lambsquarters, one of the most aggressive garden weeds that makes a delicious cooked green much like spinach. You could substitute spinach or any other cooked green for the lambsquarters.

What you’ll need:

• Kielbasa
• Pasta - in this case I used spaghetti, but Little Ithaca’s Linguini, available at the Ithaca Farmer’s Market, would work great
• Lambsquarters - Lambsquarters have followed me around the country wherever I’ve gardened. They are at their prime in June. I pull the whole plants and pluck the leaves to cook with.
• Butter Hillcrest Dairy in Moravia makes a delicious local butter.
• Vinegar Cherry Knoll makes a fantastic cherry vinegar available at the Ithaca Farmer’s market
• salt

Start by boiling your pasta.

While that is cooking, prep your lambsquarters by plucking the leaves from the stems. Then brown your kielbasa. You can brown them them in links or remove them from the casings and brown them loose, crumbling them into good size chunks with a wooden spoon. When the kielbasa is done remove it from the heat. Deglaze the pan with a good splash of vinegar. Add the lambsquarter leaves and steam them until they soften, three minutes or so. Toss the lambsquarters with the pasta. Season with salt and butter to taste. Serve with the kielbasa and grated parmesan.