Recipe - Fastest Pasta With Spinach Sauce (Bishop)

1 Clove garlic
One half teaspoon Crushed red pepper flakes;
or to taste; opt
15 Calamata or other olives;
approximately, pitted and
roughly chopped
One fourth cup Extra virgin olive oil; PLUS
1 tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil
1 pound Long pasta; like linguine
1 pound Spinach; washed, tough stems
removed, roughly chopped
Salt and freshly ground
black pepper

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it.

GARLIC AND OLIVE OIL: Meanwhile, mince the garlic as finely as possible and
combine it in the bottom of a warm bowl with the red pepper flakes (if
using) olives and olive oil.

Place the pasta in the pot, and cook until it is nearly done (test it for
doneness by tasting). Plunge the spinach into the water, and cook until it
wilts, less than a minute. Drain quickly, allowing some water to cling to
the pasta, and toss pasta and spinach in the bowl with the garlic and olive
mixture. Season with salt and pepper, and serve.

VARIATIONS:

*Toss the pasta with freshly grated Parmesan or pecorino Romano cheese to
taste.

*In addition to or instead of the olives, use chopped sundried tomatoes in
oil (about a quarter cup), drained capers (about two tablespoons), toasted
bread crumbs (about a half cup) or minced prosciutto (about a quarter cup).

*Use other greens, as long as they will cook quickly. Try chopped leaves of
kale, collards, Swiss chard, turnip or mustard greens, or bitesize florets
of broccoli.

*Use Asian noodles, and substitute a quarter cup peanut oil plus one
tablespoon sesame oil for the olive oil. Add soy sauce to the hot pepper
and garlic, omit the olives, and add a few lightly toasted sesame seeds.

TIMING TIP: Add tender greens like spinach when the pasta is about done.
The added cooking time will be only 30 seconds or so. Add tough greens,
like kale or collards or vegetables like broccoli florets — a minute or two
before the pasta seems finished, so that the greens have enough time to
become tender.

Excerpt from COMPLETE ITALIAN VEGETARIAN COOKBOOK, by Jack Bishop
(Houghton Mifflin, 1997). Mark Bittman, NYTimes Riverside
PressEnterprise 1998Apr05 Hanneman/Buster

Notes: The very best pasta is often the simplest. Jack Bishop cooks the
greens with the pasta and adds the seasonings at the last minute. Allow at
least a gallon of water to a pound of pasta, because you need a large pot
to accommodate the both the pasta and the greens.

Recipe by: COMPLETE ITALIAN VEGETARIAN COOKBOOK, by Jack Bishop

Posted to MCRecipe Digest by KitPATh phannema@wizard.ucr.edu on Apr 06,
1998