This is what I made for dinner tonight. It was surprisingly good.
For most of my life, I only topped homemade pasta with tomato sauce. Sure, I’d had alfredo and garlic sauces while out at restaurants, but I thought that making those white sauces at home was out of my league. More recently, after learning the correct way to make a roux, I became able to make white sauces any time I want. The trouble is, white sauces are really fattening. What I wanted to make was something simple: basically, pasta with no sauce at all, just garlic, oil, and some vegetables. It works because it is based on a classic side-dish combination: spinach, garlic, and lemon.
Ingredients
- 1/4 box thin spaghetti, cooked
- 8 oz chopped, frozen spinach, or the same amount of fresh baby spinach
- 1 8 oz package grape tomatoes, quartered
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
- zest of 1 lemon
- juice of 1 lemon
- shredded mozzarella cheese, as desired
- olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Technique
(Assuming none of the ingredients are cooked.)
- Boil salted water for the pasta. Cook the pasta according to the package and set it aside once done. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water.
- Toast the walnuts in a dry skillet for 2-3 minutes, as the skillet warms. Remove the nuts.
- Saute the onion in 1 tsp olive oil in a large skillet.
- Add the garlic after 5 minutes and stir it for another minute.
- Add the spinach and stir the ingredients until the spinach is heated. You may need to cover the skillet for a couple minutes. If covering the pan, lower the heat to medium low.
- Add the tomatoes, lemon zest, lemon juice, and walnuts. Stir to combine.
- Add the pasta and mix it together with the vegetables. If the mixture seems dry, add the pasta water.
- At this point, the saucepan can be covered and the dish can sit over low heat to keep warm. Or, it may be served immediately, with grated cheese.
- For a special touch, cover the pasta with a layer of mozzarella cheese, and heat it under the broiler (on high) for 2 minutes.
Pasta with Tomatoes, Spinach, and Garlic
