I admit it, I'm a short order cook and am always taking "orders" for my family's dinner. I love to cook and understand this is this best option for our health and budget, but it's hard to manufacture time during during the work week. My son requested I make something that "grew from the ground". My husband is in the mood for pasta. Chard is growing in the garden and there's a bit of leftover aged Gouda in the frige; dinnerFeed is decided!

Most folks automatically grab the Parmesan to grate over a pasta dish but there are volumes of other fabulous grating cheeses. Manchego, the famously delicious Spanish sheep's milk cheese, is one favorite. What I have on hand is a semi-hard. small wedge of aged Gouda. A quality aged Gouda bears little resemblance to the ubiquitous round, red wax, mild Goudas most are familiar with in this country. The butterscotch, nutty flavor of cow's milk aged Gouda will be wonderful grated over pasta and sautéed chard.

Chard is a member of the beet family and has crinkly green leaves and celery like stalks. The varieties I grow, red and rainbow, have dark green leaves and colorful stalks. Chard is in season now and you can find it at most markets-it's also at the height of flavor! I chop the stalks and sauté them 5 or 6 minutes before adding the chard greens.

Use any quality cheese and fresh green you have in your frige in place of the Gouda and chard. Of course any type of pasta will be just fine. Toasted pine nuts or walnuts would add great texture to this dish as well.

Yield: 3-4 servings Cost: apx. $7.50 Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

2 cups ziti pasta (+1/4 cup water from boiled pasta) 1 bunch red chard 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 1 teaspoon minced garlic 1/4 pound aged gouda, grated (1 cup)

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to package instructions. 2. Rinse chard leaves thoroughly. Remove the tough bottom end of the stalks and discard. Chop remaining stalks into 1 1/2-inch pieces. Roughly chop the green leaves. 3. In a large sauté pan, heat oil to medium heat. Add garlic. Sauté 1 minute, stirring. Add chopped stalks and sauté 5 minutes. Add chopped chard greens and 1/4 cup pasta water and sauté greens and stalks over medium-high heat until chard is tender, an additional 5-8 minutes. 4. Toss chard with cooked pasta and season to taste with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper or red pepper flakes. Grate gouda over pasta and serve.