Let me start by saying I LOVE farmers’ markets. I went to the Dufferin Grove one and got a beautiful loaf of rosemary bread, peaches, chard, kale, tomatoes and fancy mushrooms. LOOK HOW FANCY!

Once I bought all this my friend Steph invited me to her cottage so I had to use up this fresh produce asap. After spending an hour on Pinterest I decided I wanted to make a pasta with my mushrooms and chard. The mushrooms were shiitake, oyster and trumpet and I sautéed them with garlic and chopped chard.

**FUN TIP: the stems of shiitakes are very tough so take them off and freeze them to use later for stock. They have SO much flavour.**

Meanwhile, start boiling your pasta. Once the chard was wilted I added a few heaping spoonfuls of ricotta cheese, ½ cup of pasta water, little but of grated white cheddar (parmesan would be great too) and a few slices of chopped bacon. When the pasta is al dente, add it to the ricotta and veg mixture and let everyone get acquainted in the pan. Serve immediately and let out a groan so loud that your neighbours are jealous and concerned. This pasta is VERY decadent but I felt good eating it because it was packed full of healthy chard and I used gluten free pasta. Use whatever noodles you want though!

The I went off to the cottage for 3 days and had delicious meals cooked for me by the Tolev family. However, I did make a kale caesar salad to contribute to one of the meals and it was a HUGE hit. I blended ½ a cup of the ricotta cheese with olive oil, rice wine vinegar, dash of worcestershire, squirt of dijon, lemon juice, 2 cloves garlic, 20ish capers, kosher salt and pepper. I dressed the salad about an hour before eating and added the rest of that bacon I had cooked up. I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but this is the best kale caesar I’ve ever had AND I didn’t even add parmesan to it! The ricotta gave it such a beautiful texture and the kale holds up so nicely and doesn’t get soggy. It’s garlicky as hell so don’t go kissing anyone immediately after, unless they’re into stink breath.