Pasta Puttanesca

This is an easy dish which I happened upon accidentally the other night at my parent's house. I thought I didn't have anything to make for dinner. I raided the pantry and was pleasantly surprised at how well everything worked together as I threw random Italian ingredients into the skillet. Its a sort of puttanesca without the seafood part. Everything is flexible...I listed the ingredients below, but they are basically guidelines. You can add or subtract ingredients as you like. I didn't really put amounts down either because it's really up to you. Just do everything to suit your tastes.

Ingredients:
1 box whole wheat pasta (preferably short pasta like ziti or penne etc.)
1 onion
1-2 garlic cloves (or more to taste)
1 medium can of diced tomatoes
a bunch of collard greens
pitted kalamata olives
capers
roasted red peppers
one jar of marinated artichoke hearts (i use Pastene)
crimini (baby bella) mushrooms
crushed red pepper to taste to make it spicy
1-2 teaspoons italian seasoning, or more to taste
sea salt and pepper to taste

Steps: Boil pasta, drain and set aside
Dice onion and mince the garlic, then saute onion and garlic in a large skillet
Cut out central rib in collards and cut up the leaves a bit (not too small because they shrink up a lot when cooked), if you like you can chop up the stems into green bean size pieces and toss them in the skillet too (most of the nutrients are in the stems)
Add can of diced tomatoes
Cover skillet
Slice the mushrooms, roasted red peppers and cut up the artichoke hearts and toss them in
Add the capers and olives and mix in
Add the crushed red pepper and seasonings, salt and pepper and mix in
Cover skillet to cook the collards, stirring occasionally
Once collards are cooked add the pasta into the skillet and stir to combine
Cook 5 or so minutes more and done!
Eat and enjoy!

When my mom's friend Mary read this blog entry, she wrote me an email about the lore of Puttanesca sauce. Here is the bit she wrote. "It translates to Harlot's Sauce. Supposedly the hard working ladies of the red light districts had to make quick meals in the evening. So, they would dash through the cupboards, just like you did to make the most wonderful, fragrant sauces. Also, you probably already know why you would use the shorter pasta, but since you're bloggin' for people to read, you might as impart those bits that nourish their minds as well. In case you don't know about pasta shapes: thin noodles = thin sauce; thicker pasta, like fettucine = think sauce; pasta with holes or ridges, like ziti = chunky sauces."

Good to know! Thanks Mary!