Tag Archives: pasta

Cannellini beans and pasta with miso and fennel

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This is a time for luxurious and delicious food. This one is comforting and the sauce comes while the pasta boils. I do like fennel with white beans, the flavor combination works well with the butter and cream. This is a no recipe recipe. Boil water, cook pasta. While that’s going on – make sauce. In 2-3 tbsp of butter, add a tsp of fennel seeds and 1-2 tbsp of chopped garlic and a tsp or so of crushed red pepper flakes. After a few minutes- add a rinsed can of cannellini beans. Cook till the beans brown slightly, add about a 1/4 cup of heavy cream, half a tsp of miso and half a tsp of vegetable base (I use better than bouillon). Add pasta and Parmesan. Enjoy

Chickpea pasta with spinach

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This is a riff off a NYT recipe and is a true no-recipe recipe. It’s creamy, nutritious and delicious. The pasta water, the chickpea water and actual cream all make this a very luxurious dish.

Soak one cup of chickpeas for 8-12 hours and pressure cook for 15 minutes. Strain the chickpeas but keep the water.

In 2 tbsp of butter, add 1 tsp of cumin seeds and 1 tsp of fennel seeds. After they sputter, add the chickpeas and toast on mod-high heat till browned in part.

Add 3-4 cloves of finely chopped garlic and 5-6 oz of spinach. Add salt and pepper and 1/4 cup of heavy cream. Thin out using some of the chickpea water.

Add cooked pasta of choice, add Parmesan cheese. Thin with pasta water if needed. Add red pepper flakes if you wish

Chickpea pasta with tomatoes cinnamon and fennel

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Sauce

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp fennel seeds, 1 inch cinnamon stick, 2 dried red chillies

Add 1/2 an onion, sauté till softened, add 2-3 minced garlic cloves, add a large can of tomatoes puréed

Cook for 20 min, add 1 cup of cooked chickpeas

Toss with pasta, red pepper flakes and feta crumbles

Puttanesca sauce

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The story goes that the prostitutes of Naples attracted customers because this sauce was so fragrant. I really like that story. The kids in Lemony Snicket (which is a very sly book) cook this for their guardian. My version doesn’t have anchovies, I’ve added gochuang, miso, shitake mushrooms, tamari and other ingredients to my puttanesca at different times. Today- I just skipped the anchovies.

Ingredients:

1 14 oz can of San Marzano tomatoes

1/4 cup chopped olives ( I used green, but oil cured would be fantastic here)

1-2 tbsp capers

4-5 large cloves of garlic (about 1-2 tbsp)

2 tbsp extravirgin olive oil

1/2-1 tsp dried red pepper flakes, 1 tsp dried oregano and 2 tbsp chopped parsley

Heat the oil, add the garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes (don’t brown). Add the capers and olives and cook for another minute. Add the tomatoes and the oregano and the red pepper flakes. Cover the sauce and cook  this low and slow for 20-30 minutes.

Cook pasta, add to sauce, thin with some pasta water. Traditionally this pasta is served with parsley and without cheese but honestly, every pasta tastes better with some parmesan.