Healthy, Hearty, Italian Spaghetti with Spinach, Bread Crumbs, and Roasted Garlic

Many meatless pasta recipes beckon you, but most disappoint. This one will satisfy your hunger, keep your blood sugar low, and generally promote good health. Nutritious, high in fiber, featuring spinach, garlic, cheese, whole wheat pasta and bread crumbs, a rare dish which is simultaneously healthy and delicious.

The spinach is easy. Use a bag of frozen cut leaf spinach from your grocery store. No work, ready to go.

The pasta, likewise, is no effort – just purchase the whole wheat variety.

Now the bread crumbs are a different story. If you purchase prepared bread crumbs, they will not be high fiber. But as an accent to this dish, the overall effect will still be good. However if you’ve got a few minutes, it’s very easy to make fresh, high fiber bread crumbs at home.

In the end, no matter your choices, this is a wonderful Italian dish promoting great nutrition and is, by the way, very tasty!

Bread Crumbs

Of course you can buy prepared bread crumbs, even seasoned with Italian herbs, but you will find them disappointing. Instead, try this.

2 slices of multi-grain bread

Heat oven to 300F. Place bread slices on a cookie tray in the oven and allow to bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and place in a food processor. Blend until reduced to crumbs. You are done – high fiber, fresh bread crumbs.

 Pasta dish

½ cup extra virgin olive oil, in halves

4 large garlic cloves, peeled and diced

1 cup bread crumbs

¼ tsp. red pepper flakes

Dash of Italian seasoning

1 lb. cut leaf spinach

8 oz. whole wheat spaghetti

Salt to taste

Fresh ground black pepper

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Start a large pot of water to boil. Add salt.

Meanwhile, warm half of the olive oil (1/4 cup) in a large, deep skillet and cook the garlic till slightly browned. Add  bread crumbs, pepper flakes, and Italian seasoning. Cook until bread crumbs begin to brown. Remove to a separate bowl.

Add remaining olive oil to the skillet (1/4 cup) and cook spinach until wilted. Stir in bread crumb/garlic mixture from the reserved bowl, mix well and continue to reduce.

As soon as the pasta water boils, add pasta and cook till al dente, 6-7 minutes. Capture a half cup of the pasta water, then drain in a colander. Place pasta in the skillet, combine well with spinach mixture and a bit of the pasta water. Warm up the burner and cook till well combined. Test and adjust seasonings as desired.

Serve hot, topped with freshly grated Parmesan.

Buon appetito!

Hearty Mushroom Orzotto

A dear friend recently asked if I had ever made orzotto. Not only had I not, I had never heard of it. She supplied me with a link to a Mario Batali recipe for same – looked interesting. So we prepared it one night, with liberties as usual. I hereby testify that it is a wonderfully delicious, nutritious, healthy, satisfying, rib-sticking, and forgiving recipe. I can only say “Thank you Suzanne!"

Orzotto is an Italian dish similar to risotto but made with pearled barley rather than rice. The word is a mash-up of orzo (barley) and risotto. Orzotto comes from the mountains northeast of Venice, the Friuli Venezia Giulia region.

To those concerned with health (and who isn’t), the glycemic index of pearled barley (25) is much lower than short-grain rice (69) typically used in risotto.  According to Harvard Health:

Glycemic index and glycemic load offer information about how foods affect blood sugar and insulin. The lower a food’s glycemic index or glycemic load, the less it affects blood sugar and insulin levels. Foods with a high glycemic index, like white bread, are rapidly digested and cause substantial fluctuations in blood sugar. Foods with a low glycemic index, like whole oats, are digested more slowly, prompting a more gradual rise in blood sugar.

High glycemic index foods (e.g., french fries, candy bars, baked potatoes) contribute to obesity and type 2 diabetes. So we like the health effects of orzotto much better than risotto.

So here is my Mushroom Orzotto with apologies to Mr. Batali.

Ingredients:

1 cup pearled barley

1 quart low sodium, low fat chicken broth

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

½  teaspoon fresh minced thyme (or ¼ tsp dry will suffice)

1 pound portobello mushrooms, sliced ¼” thick

1 clove garlic thinly sliced

Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

1 tablespoon butter (or substitute additional olive oil)

¾ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Method:

1. Cook the pearled barley in a pan of salted, boiling water for 15 minutes. Drain well.
2. Meanwhile heat the chicken broth in the microwave or another saucepan. Keep warm.
3. Heat the olive oil in a large, deep skillet or Dutch oven. Add the thyme, mushrooms, and garlic and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook over moderately high heat, stirring, until mushrooms are softened. (Note – I covered the pan for a few moments to accelerate the process, but then uncovered to evaporate the accumulated moisture).
4. Add the barley and stir well. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add 1 cup of warm broth and stir until most of the stock is absorbed. Continue this process until all of the broth is incorporated. The result in about 25 minutes should be a creamy sauce.
5. Add the butter and cheese and blend into mixture. (We don't use butter so added another tablespoon of olive oil instead).

Test seasoning and serve. Buon appetito!  

Note on mushrooms.

Mario’s recipe used shitake. I used portobello. You could use porcini. This is a fun and forgiving recipe to play with. The only word of advice is that the mushrooms be well cleaned so the orzotto is not gritty.

Spaghetti di Calzolaio (Shoemaker’s Spaghetti)

I found this terrific, simple recipe in “The Italian Vegetable Cookbook” by Michele Scicolone. With a few minor modifications, I present it to you as a quick, delicious, healthy meal.

Why “Shoemaker’s” spaghetti? The theory is that the shoemakers of Naples, with few ingredients and little time, were able to satisfy their hunger and dine well by preparing this dish.

The sauce can be made with fresh or canned tomatoes. But they key is the hot red pepper, cheeses, and fresh basil which lend it a creamy, piquant, satisfying consistency. The pasta is cooked for the last few minutes in the sauce requiring a large enough skillet to accommodate all ingredients.

Ingredients:

1 large clove garlic, halved

Pinch of crushed red pepper

Pinch of turmeric

Freshly grated black pepper

3 TBS EVOO

1 14-oz can tomatoes with their juices, or;

2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

¼ cup water if using fresh tomatoes

A pinch of baking soda

12 oz. spaghetti (I prefer whole wheat)

½ cup reserved water from pasta pot

3 TBS freshly grated Pecorino Romano

3 TBS freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

4 fresh basil leaves, torn into pieces

Method:

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.

In the meantime, in a skillet large enough to hold all ingredients, cook the garlic, turmeric, black pepper, and red pepper flakes in the EVOO over medium heat. Cook until the garlic is browned, about 2 minutes.

Add the tomatoes (and water if fresh tomatoes) and bring to a simmer. Crush tomatoes with the back of a spoon until sauce is thickened.  Add baking soda and stir well (this will remove acidity of the tomatoes). Cook until thickened, about 10 minutes. Discard garlic.

Place pasta in boiling water. Cook until not quite al dente (about 7 minutes). Reserve ½ cup of the pasta water. Drain the pasta.

Add the cheeses and pasta water to the sauce, stir well until smooth. Add the pasta, tossing and mixing well. Cook, covered, for 2 minutes.

Top with basil and serve with a nice Chianti or your favorite red wine.

Buon appetito!