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 means 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.