Columbus Foodie

For this edition of Presto Pasta Night, I give you another dish made from the contents of my fridge, pantry, and freezer - utilizing things I needed to use before their drop dead date. One of the drawbacks of being a child-free couple is that things are never sold in appropriate quantities for singles and/or couples, and one is left scrambling at the last minute to use items that are leftover from other dishes (for example - a recipe may call for a cup of spinach, but at the farmers markets, you can only buy a bag of spinach, about 6-8 cups - see my point?). I was lucky enough to find a tiny pork tenderloin at Giant Eagle - 8 oz. total weight, the perfect size for the pair of us.

To make this dish, we sliced the pork tenderloins into 1″ thick rounds, and pounded them down a bit thinner, and sauteed them in a touch of olive oil, seasoned with a little salt and pepper. We made a pesto using a bunch of ramps (we peeled off the outer layer, but used the whole thing), a handful of spinach, a small handful of basil, about 3/4 cup of grated Parmesan, a pinch (maybe 1/8 to 1/4 cup) of pine nuts, and olive oil to the right consistency - because of the garlicky nature of the ramps, it was *really* strong, and a little went a long way. I sauteed some zucchini ribbons, and wilted some spinach into the zucchini mixture at the last minute, and tossed the veggies and a few tablespoons of the ramp pesto with a package of cooked gnocchi. Delicious. Not a pretty presentation but it tasted great.