By The last week of February, and I am counting the days until March the way a prisoner counts days until release, not because February is terrible but because February is long in a way that its twenty-eight days do not adequately explain. February has a psychological length that exceeds its calendar length. This is not poetry. This is meteorological fact.
I went to a caregivers' support group this week — my first time. David has been suggesting it for months. Rebecca has been suggesting it. My friend Harriet from the synagogue, whose husband had Parkinson's, suggested it. I resisted because I am Ruth Feldman and I do not need a group, I need my kitchen and my writing and my family and my own private methodology for surviving this. But I went. I went because I was tired on Tuesday in a way that was not physical but existential, tired in the bones of my identity, and I thought: maybe other people who are this tired know something I don't.
They did. They knew that the tiredness is normal. They knew that the guilt — the guilt of being impatient, of wanting five minutes alone, of wishing for something you can't wish for because wishing for it makes you a monster — is normal. They knew that feeding someone who doesn't remember your name is an act of extraordinary love and that it is also, simultaneously, an act that can break you if you let it. A woman named Sandra, whose mother has Alzheimer's, said, "You're not losing your mind. You're losing your partner. Those are different griefs." I wrote it down on a napkin. I will keep the napkin. Some sentences arrive when you need them, and this one arrived on a Tuesday in a church basement in Rockville Centre, between bad coffee and a woman named Sandra, and it was exactly what I needed to hear.
I came home and made kasha varnishkes — buckwheat groats with bow-tie pasta, onions caramelized until almost burnt, the whole thing tossed in schmaltz. It's the most unglamorous food in the Ashkenazi canon and also one of the most comforting. Sylvia made it on Tuesdays. I made it on this Tuesday. The comfort was the same.
The kasha varnishkes I made that Tuesday reminded me, again, that the most sustaining food is never the most complicated — it’s the food that asks almost nothing of you while giving almost everything back. This pasta does the same thing: sweet potatoes that go soft and caramelized at the edges, kale that wilts into something gentler than it started, all of it pulled together with olive oil and a little heat. Sandra’s sentence is still on the napkin in my coat pocket. The pasta is on the stove. Both of them are doing their jobs.
Pasta with Caramelized Sweet Potatoes and Kale
Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 35 min | Total Time: 50 min | Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 12 oz rigatoni or penne pasta
- 2 medium sweet potatoes (about 1 1/2 lbs), peeled and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
- 1 large bunch curly kale, stems removed, leaves torn into pieces
- 1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 4 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 cup reserved pasta cooking water
- 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Roast the sweet potatoes. Preheat oven to 425°F. Toss sweet potato cubes with 2 tbsp olive oil, smoked paprika, 1/2 tsp salt, and a few grinds of black pepper. Spread in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast 25–30 minutes, flipping once halfway through, until tender and caramelized at the edges.
- Caramelize the onion. While sweet potatoes roast, heat remaining 2 tbsp olive oil and the butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the sliced onion and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 20–25 minutes until deeply golden and soft. Add garlic and red pepper flakes, cook 2 minutes more.
- Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup cooking water before draining.
- Wilt the kale. Add the torn kale to the skillet with the onions over medium heat. Add 3 tbsp of the reserved pasta water and toss, cooking 3–4 minutes until kale is just wilted and bright green.
- Combine. Add the drained pasta and roasted sweet potatoes to the skillet. Toss everything together, adding more pasta water a splash at a time until the sauce coats the pasta loosely. Remove from heat and stir in Parmesan.
- Serve. Divide among bowls and top with additional Parmesan and a grind of black pepper. Serve immediately.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 510 | Protein: 15g | Fat: 17g | Carbs: 78g | Fiber: 7g | Sodium: 340mg