Pasta is quite possibly my favourite food of all time. Now I know this is quite a tall order – as well let’s face it, there’s not much I won’t eat – but it’s just so gosh darn versatile and incredibly simple to make!
Generally speaking, when it comes to pasta, I find that simple is usually the way to go.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had some absolutely delicious complicated pasta, but really it doesn’t need to be so complicated, especially when you’re cooking at home. Cook up one, two, or TEN veggies of your choice, throw in some garlic, toss with any noodle you happen to fancy that day and garnish with a bit of cheese. BAM you have a wonderful and oh-so-easy meal. Heck, growing up we even skipped the veggies all together and went straight for the cheese. My Nonna would serve us spaghetti with butter and a whack load of freshly grated parmesan cheese. That equals for kid-pasta-HEAVEN. Now, as the sophisticated and refined adult I am, I would like to be able to say that I no longer eat pasta in such a manner, alas, I would be lying to you. It really is too easy and delicious to give up (even if it is a diet’s worst nightmare).
While the Italians may not have actually invented pasta, they sure as hell perfected it. The best part about Italian cuisine, pasta in particular, is how simple it really is. While I was in Italy, I had hands down the best food I have ever tasted in my life (think fresh caprese salad, fish you just watched being caught that morning, and dear god the pasta – I mean really it’s not even fair). The thing that made this food so incredible was the simplicity of it! A few outstanding ingredients, a little pinch of salt here and there, some cheese, and that’s all you need. No slaving away in a kitchen for 8 million years or complicated cooking methods. Just good food!
Just look at this spread we had in Porto Venere(pictured below). As you can see, we hadn’t quite mastered the ordering process yet, so we usually ended up with enough food for a small army. Somehow we managed to eat it all anyway…
Aaaanyway, I could talk about pasta and how much I love Italy forever, but enough is enough. It’s a recipe you want!
You Will Need
> one package of spaghetti (or any pasta of your choice, sometimes I like to substitute the regular pasta for brown nice noodles as a slightly healthier and gluten free option)
> 3 cups baby spinach leaves
> 6-9 cloves of garlic (depending on how garlicy you’d like it – I usually go with 8)
> 8 tbsp of good quality olive oil
> juice of one lemon
> zest of one lemon (optional)
> salt and pepper to taste
> red chilli flakes (optional)
> parmesan cheese for garnish (optional)
Begin by bringing a large pot of water to a boil. Be sure to salt this water well (you want it to taste like sea water!), otherwise your pasta will not be seasoned properly). Meanwhile finely chop your cloves of garlic. Rinse the spinach leaves and drain well – set aside.
Next, in a saucepan begin to heat the olive oil on a medium low heat. Gently cook garlic in oil, stirring often, for approx. 10 minutes or until just golden (be careful not over cook garlic as it will become bitter – super yuck). Add the fresh lemon juice (this is also the time to add the lemon zest and chilli flakes if you are using them), season with salt and pepper.
Once cooked to your desired firmness, drain pasta, reserving a few tablespoons of the pasta water. Add pasta back to pot, with the spinach, garlic oil and a couple tablespoons of pasta water. Stir together.
Garnish with freshly grated parmesan, or more lemon or pepper if desired!
**Notes**
> you can toss some leftover chicken in the pasta as well
> feel free to add in any other veggies – I find that kale, bok choy, asparagus, broccoli, mushrooms, or grape tomatoes work best with the lemony flavour (note that you may need to pre-cook some of these veggies such as the broccoli or asparagus before tossing them in)
All done!
See how simple that was? Now it’s time to slurp those noodles like there’s no tomorrow!
Girl Eats World 