Hello fellow pasta lovers. I know I have been neglecting you. Believe me when I tell you that it is not from a lack of making pasta. Quite the contrary. I make and eat pasta. (Gluten free now) Maybe not as often as before when I used to eat it every day. Yeah, you read that correctly. EVERY DAY. Oh the glory years. Every day requires a lot of invention. Which meant I needed to come up with a variety of combinations to swirl, toss and top my pasta. This is the very essence of the 'something from nothing' style, and how I pretty much make every pasta dish. Which leaves you wondering why the hell I'm not posting them given that it is the literal building block of my blog. Oh the irony. Quite frankly, these dishes, although delicious, didn't seem like such revolutionary ideas, nor ones you wouldn't have thought up yourselves. But maybe not. So, if it's pasta you want, it's pasta you get. Who I am to deny anyone from eating pasta? I'm not crazy.
This combo literally was a throw it together dish from last week. I was spending time with my niece Gianna before she headed back to college, my alma mater Binghamton University. Our afternoon of shopping ended right at the dinner hour and we were hungry. We first thought of grabbing a bite at some local restaurant, but Gianna being every thoughtful and dollar conscious, said why spend money. After mentioning that I didn't have a ton to choose from at home, save pasta, her answer: "Well, I would never turn down pasta." And this why she is my goddaughter. Like minds.
Here we go with the old open the fridge and see what we have...
Container of oven roasted tomatoes
Moroccan oil cured black olives
Baby spinach
That's all we needed to make a pasta that had some real depth of flavor.
Ingredients
1 lb. linguine (I used Tinkyada gluten free)
3.5 c oven roasted tomatoes
1/2c approx. roasting oil & juices from the tomatoes
1/3 c Moroccan oli cured olives, rough chop
4 c baby spinach, rough chop
1/2 med. yellow onion, diced (approx. 2/3 c)
3 large cloves garlic, sliced
pinch red pepper flakes, optional
Magic 3 (Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper)
Moroccan Black Oil Cured Olives
Instructions
Dice the onions, slice the garlic, chop the olives. While the pasta is cooking, sauté the onions and garlic until just softened. Add the olives and stir to combine.
Add the tomatoes plus their roasting oil and spinach and let cook until spinach is wilted and everything is warmed through. Season to taste. (Note that the olives add a salty flavor so go light handed when adding salt. TASTE, taste, taste.)
Once pasta is al dente, transfer it to the sauce pan and combine all together letting it cook the last minute in the sauce. Top with grated cheese.
The sweetness from the tomatoes, the salty, earthy flavor from the olives and the bite of spinach. There really is no need for me to tell you that this was yummy. Trust me, it was. So much so, I made it again when my sis, Jill came for her weekly visit. Pasta NEVER disappoints. It really does provide a double dose of love.
