You got me. This recipe doesn’t actually involve lollipops (does anyone buy those anymore?). But I did enjoy the play on lyrics of a song that I no longer remember the name of. Presumably it’ll be lost on all Gen Z-ers, if not also on the rest of my Millennial clan. Regardless: it’s my blog and I’ll do what I want to…

In fact, this is a wondrous recipe for linguine tossed with olive oil, chilli, plenty of garlic and rainbow chard, given ‘tis the season for it right now. This is the result of a pretty recent brain burp. I have just started a training course—fully remote—which involves staring at my screen, watching tutorials and reading articles for hours at a time, not too dissimilar to my PhD days. And I hate it. I get instantly bored and my energy levels rapidly deteriorate, while my online shopping habit has become somewhat of a problem. It’s only for 3.5 months, but I’m counting down every minute (and every penny).

At the end of the first day of doing my course, I was lying on my sofa—exhausted, annoyed, and frustrated (I suspect hormones might have also had a thing or two to do with it). I hadn’t left the house all day and, despite the fact I am a homebody, I desperately needed to get out. Oh, and have pasta.

Struggling to determine where to actually go—I only had about 45 minutes to play around with—I decided to just go and stare at the fresh produce at my local organic store. It’s expensive, so I rarely go there, but their vegetable porn game is pretty impressive.

To cut this entirely mundane story short, there I found a pile of technicolour rainbow chard. If you’ve never seen them before, it is, well, essentially chard but in colours you’d find in a sweetshop. They’re beautiful: always impossible not to buy but hard to bring yourself to actually cook. 

Obviously I bought myself a slim bright pink bunch, posted about this momentous event on instagram and then set to work on throwing it into something indulgent, pasta-based, but as simple as possible.

And yes, there was sunshine, an ingredient I would heartedly recommend (along with a glass of wine or better, a bottle).

A few notes on the recipe

Olive oil masquerades as a sauce here; don’t fight it, I promise the calories are worth it. 

Also, it really doesn’t work without chilli and garlic. I don’t do heat and thus only use a teaspoon of the former, so throw in whatever amount works for you but don’t forgo it. As for the latter, more is (almost) always better. 

I specify regular linguine here but you can of course use a gluten-free option. Just check the packet instructions and modify the cooking times accordingly.