Tag: Spaghetti

spaghetti with grape tomatoes, olives, capers, & pine nuts

tomatoes spaghetti pasta olives capers oregano cherry tomatoes pine nuts

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When the kalamata olive bread is on our baking schedule for the week, we like to make this pasta dish. The olives in the bread are great with the olives and capers in the pasta! If you want to heat a whole loaf of bread to eat with dinner, you can heat it, unwrapped, for 15 minutes in a 350 degree oven just before serving dinner.

Dan likes to call this recipe his signature dish, because he’s the only one who has the patience to cut all the grape tomatoes in half before roasting them. I think if you just left them whole (and let them burst in the oven) they’d be just fine—maybe the dish wouldn’t be as pretty, but it would still taste great!!

In the summer, we love to make this recipe with local cherry tomatoes, but we make this recipe all year ‘round with big boxes of grape tomatoes from Costco. The original recipe (from Cooks Illustrated) called for this amount of sauce for a whole pound of pasta, but we like twice as many tomatoes for our pasta—so please note that the recipe below only calls for a half-pound of pasta. We always make a double batch to have plenty of leftovers, so we buy two of those giant boxes of grape tomatoes at a time. While you’re at Costco, you can pick up a giant jar of capers, a bag of pine nuts, a mesh bag of garlic, a huge jug of olive oil, a big wedge of Parmesan cheese, and a jar of kalamata olives… Then you’re set up to make this dish whenever you get a hankering!

2 pounds grape tomatoes, halved pole to pole
2 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt or kosher salt
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 large cloves garlic, sliced thin
¼ cup rinsed and drained capers
½ pound spaghetti (I like whole-wheat, especially DeCecco or Ronzoni)
½ cup pitted and sliced kalamata olives
¼ cup chopped flat-leaved parsley
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted (optional)
2 ounces grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, gently toss tomatoes with oil, ½ teaspoon salt, pepper flakes, pepper, garlic, and capers. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with non-stick spray or oil. Spread tomatoes in an even layer on baking sheet and roast until tomato skins are slightly shriveled (tomatoes should retain their shape), 35 to 40 minutes. Do not stir tomatoes during roasting. Remove from the oven and cool 5 to 10 minutes.
2. While tomatoes cook, bring a large pot of water to boil. Just before removing tomatoes from the oven, stir 1 tablespoon salt and pasta into boiling water and cook until al dente. Drain pasta and return to pot. Scrape tomatoes into pot on top of pasta, add olives and parsley; toss to combine. Serve immediately, sprinkling pine nuts and optional cheese over individual bowls.

Savoy cabbage and sage on pasta with toasted walnuts

walnuts cabbage carrots spaghetti pasta onions parsley soba savoy cabbage

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I love this recipe! Here’s another of my pasta recipes that has loads of vegetables and not so much pasta. Healthy, healthy, healthy! Make this especially when you can get fresh Alaskan Savoy cabbage—it’s so sweet and delicious! The combination of sweet, browned onions, sweet Alaskan carrot slices, and the salty, toasted walnuts… it’s fantastically flavorful Fall food! It’s inspired by a recipe in rebar modern food.

One nice thing about this recipe is that you don’t need to put any cheese on it, because of the salty, roasty-toasty walnuts. Try it with just the nuts before you heap Parmesan on it!

½ pound whole wheat pasta, or buckwheat soba
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion (or 2 medium onions), diced
sea salt or kosher salt
6 garlic cloves, minced
¼ teaspoon red chile flakes
1 tablespoon dried sage (or ¼ cup fresh sage, minced)
1 ½ teaspoons dried thyme (or 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves)
1 medium head Savoy cabbage, halved, cored, and cut into ¼-inch thick ribbons
½ to 1 cup vegetable stock, bean broth, or water
3 medium carrots, cut into thin half-moon slices
1-2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar (optional)
freshly ground pepper
½ cup walnuts, toasted for 15 minutes in a 350-degree oven
1-2 tablespoons toasted walnut oil (optional—but I love to use Loriva oil)
½ bunch parsley, leaves chopped finely

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil to cook the pasta.
2. Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat and sauté the onions with ½ teaspoon salt until golden. Add carrots and sauté for another couple of minutes, then add the garlic, chiles, and herbs for several more minutes.
3. Stir in the cabbage with another ½ teaspoon salt and the stock or water, and add enough stock to keep the cabbage from sticking in the pan. Continue to sauté the vegetables until the cabbage is tender.
4. Meanwhile, add a couple of tablespoons of salt to the boiling water and cook the pasta until tender.
5. Chop the walnuts coarsely and toss them in a small bowl with the toasted walnut oil (if using) and a generous pinch of salt.
6. Just before serving, taste the vegetables and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar to taste, but don’t overdo it—you want to be able to taste the flavors of the vegetables and the toasted walnuts.
7. To serve, put a small mound of pasta on each plate, and mound a big pile of vegetables on top. Sprinkle with toasted, salted walnuts and chopped parsley.

cauliflower with raisins & pine nuts on pasta

cauliflower tomatoes spaghetti pasta onions parsley raisins pine nuts

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This is a really fun and unusual pasta dish! As usual, I make tons of veggies relative to the pasta! It’s based on a similar recipe in Peter Berley’s Modern Vegetarian Kitchen. If you’re not adding the optional cheese, the pine nuts and salt are crucial to the dish. (I really don’t think this dish needs cheese—try it first without before you sprinkle!)

I haven’t tried this without the saffron, and I’m sure it would still be good without it, but the saffron does add a nice flavor. You can find it at Summit Spice & Tea Co., along with really full-flavored bay leaves, hot pepper flakes, sea salt, and any other spice you might need for other dishes!

This makes a big batch, because our Alaskan cauliflowers are usually quite large, and it seems silly to give you a recipe for a half a cauliflower. It makes good leftovers, too! But if you want a small batch, just halve this recipe.

1 large cauliflower, cored and separated into smallish florets
sea salt or kosher salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, diced
6 garlic cloves, minced
4 large bay leaves
½ teaspoon saffron
½ to 1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes (to your taste)
¼ cup tomato paste
1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes
¾ cup raisins
1 cup water
½ cup dry white wine
½ pound pasta (spaghetti or rigatoni, for example—I like to use whole-wheat pasta)
½ cup finely chopped fresh parsley
freshly-ground black pepper
½ cup pine nuts, toasted in a small skillet over medium heat until lightly browned
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add 2 tablespoons salt. Add the cauliflower and cook until just barely tender, about 3-4 minutes. Remove the cauliflower, but reserve the water for cooking the pasta.
2. While you’re waiting for the water to boil, sauté the onions in a large, non-stick skillet in the olive oil until golden-brown, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, bay leaves, saffron, and red pepper flakes and sauté for another 2 minutes.
3. Stir in the tomato paste, optional tomatoes, raisins, water and wine. Raise the heat and bring the sauce to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, add the cauliflower, and stir well to combine. Let it sit, off heat or on very low heat, while you cook the pasta.
4. Return the cauliflower water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until tender.  Drain.
5. Add the parsley to the cauliflower sauce, and season to taste with salt and fresh-ground pepper. (It is likely to need quite a bit of salt. Don’t be shy!)
6. Put a small pile of pasta on each plate or pasta bowl, and pile high with cauliflower. Garnish with lots of toasted pine nuts. Try it first, and if you like, add Parmesan cheese!