I am officially declaring Wednesday Pasta Day. What other food is more perfect than pasta to get you over the hump of the weekdays and sliding on into the weekend. Plus noodles of one sort or another are in almost every cuisine.

Orecchiette with mushrooms and kale

This Wednesday’s offering is orecchiette with mushrooms, onions, garlic, chopped kale stems and kale leaves. There is a little prep with chopping up the components but the cooking goes quickly. While the water comes to a boil sauté the mushrooms, onions, garlic, and stems in a little olive oil. When the orecchiette goes into the water to boil add the kale leaves to the other vegetables. Before draining the pasta (orecchiette takes about 10 minutes) reserve at least a cup of pasta water. Put the drained pasta into the vegetables and add enough of the pasta water to make a sauce along with another teaspoon of olive oil. Serve garnished with a drizzle of olive oil and some optional grated parmesan.