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!

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!

  

Thick Cannillini, Tomato, and Pasta Soup Siciliano

This soup has Sicilian roots and celebrates the sun-blasted tastes of this southern Mediterranean island. Sicily’s Tunisian invaders are acknowledged with turmeric, and the northern city of Parma is paid homage with the double use of its famous cheese.

The key to this recipe is a double thickening. First, sauté and thicken the red pepper/onion base (soffritto). Then, cook down the added tomatoes until the mixture is very reduced and thickened.  Be patient, cook, and stir.

Then finish the soup with convenient canned beans, pasta, and a wedge of parmigiano rind. Serve with evoo and grated parmigiano - the result is silky smooth and satisfying.

Ingredients
2-3 Tbs. evoo
¼ tsp turmeric
¼ tsp hot red pepper flakes
¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
½ medium onion chopped
½ fresh red pepper, seeded and chopped
2 bay leaves
1 plum tomato diced
1 28 oz. can chef’s cut tomatoes (or whole plum tomatoes crushed by hand)
1 28 oz. can water (after you’ve emptied the tomatoes – this washes out the remaining juices)
1 28 oz can cannellini beans, drained
1 parmigiano reggiano rind, 2-3”
½ cup red wine 
6 oz. (3/4 cup) small whole wheat pasta
2 garlic cloves chopped fine
Evoo to drizzle
Freshly grated parmigiano reggiano to taste

Method
Heat the evoo in a deep cast iron soup pot. Add turmeric, red pepper flakes, and black pepper… stir to mix. Add onion and red pepper – sauté and stir to reduce onion/pepper mixture. Add bay leaves and plum tomato, stir well, and continue sautéing.

When mixture is reduced and thickened, add canned tomatoes. Increase heat and boil away excess liquid, stirring frequently. Reduce heat and simmer until tomato sauce has thickened and oil has risen to surface. The key to this recipe is to seriously thicken and reduce the tomato mixture. Take your time.

Add water, red wine, beans, and parmigiano rind. Bring to a boil and cook until ingredients are thoroughly heated, flavors mingled, and mixture thickened. Add pasta and cook till al dente – 8-10 minutes depending on pasta.

Add chopped garlic, stir, and cook for another minute.

Serve hot, topped with a drizzle of evoo and freshly grated parmigiano, with rustic bread and a nice glass of Chianti. Buon appetito!

Pasta in Tomatoey Broccoli Sauce

Broccoli sauce prior to mashing

Broccoli is the vegetable that everyone loves to hate.  When cooked badly, it has both an unpleasant texture and taste.  No wonder former President George H. W. Bush doesn’t like the stuff.  But broccoli has a lot to recommend it.  A member of the cabbage family, it is packed with nutrients, being high in vitamin C, dietary fiber, and anti-cancer properties.  And much more importantly, when properly prepared, it can be quite tasty!

There are many pasta and broccoli recipes, but this one is different and results in a very savory dish of pasta in a thick, tomatoey, broccoli sauce.  The spices are a suggestion only – feel free to substitute your own favorites.

First we’re going to cook the broccoli, and then the pasta, in the same water. That way the vegetable nutrients aren’t  completely tossed down the drain.  In addition, a cup of this water will be added to the sauce.

The broccoli, after cooking in the pasta pot, will be transferred to a deep skillet and cooked in olive oil, thoroughly mashed down, then combined with tomato paste and the cup of reserved water to form a thick sauce.

Finally, the pasta is cooked in the pasta pot (same water as the broccoli) until not quite done, drained through a colander, then combined in the broccoli sauce and cooked to completion. 

Ingredients

1 pound broccoli, cut up (florets cut and stems thinly sliced)

4 tbs. EVOO

Pinch of turmeric

¼ tsp. red hot pepper flakes

Fresh grated black pepper to taste

1 cup of water (reserved from pot)

1 can 6 oz. tomato paste

3 cloves garlic thinly sliced

3/4 pounds (about 3/4 box) small pasta (ziti, penne, etc.)

Fresh grated cheese (Parmigiano Reggiano preferred)

Method

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add broccoli and cook 10-15 minutes until all parts are tender (particularly the stem chunks). 

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large, deep skillet (or Dutch oven).  Add spices (turmeric, hot pepper flakes, black pepper).

When broccoli is tender, remove pot from heat, then use a slotted spoon or strainer to move the broccoli to the skillet.  Reserve a cup of the broccoli water.

Cook the broccoli in the skillet over medium-high heat, stirring and mashing until hot and well cooked into a thick sauce.  Add the can of tomato paste and cup of reserved water – mix and stir well.  Stir in garlic slices a few moments before adding the pasta. Add water as necessary if sauce is too thick.

Meanwhile, bring the vegetable water back to a boil and cook the pasta until al dente (not quite done).  Drain pasta and add it to the broccoli sauce.  Stir well to coat, then cover and continue cooking until pasta is done.

Salt to taste.

Serve with a topping of fresh grated hard cheese and a nice glass of Chianti.  Enjoy!

SHORTCUT - you may replace the tomato paste and cup of water with 2 cups of prepared tomato sauce.  My favorite is Classico Traditional Tomato & Basil.

Whole wheat ziti in tomatoey broccoli sauce.

Sicilian frutti di mare

Sicilians are blessed with intense sunshine, rich soil, blue skies, and the limitless Mediterranean.  It’s not a surprise, then, that tomatoes, herbs, pasta, and sea foods are often combined into a delicious yet affordable feast.  Tomatoes, garlic, hot red peppers, and parsley are endemic to every backyard garden.  The central highlands ripple with waves of windblown, durum  wheat, resulting in fresh pasta treasured for its hearty flavor and nutrition.   And the fishing ports of Sicily, representing one quarter of the entire Italian fleet, bring in daily bounties of shrimp, sardines, anchovies, mollusks, tuna, squid, and many other varieties of sea fish.  It is a veritable seafood heaven.

This recipe is fairly straightforward using commonly available ingredients.  While not completely faithful to the indigenous Sicilian version, it is damned close.  Certainly, experiment with the bounty of any fresh seafood that is available in your area. 

I prefer using whole canned plum tomatoes (especially in winter, better than greenhouse “fresh”).  But if you’re in a big hurry, use chef’s cut or crushed tomatoes and save some preparation time.

This recipe is designed to serve two, with second helpings, and leftovers, and may be easily doubled. 

Date warning - note that the garlic is added near the end to boost the fresh garlic taste. 

Ingredients

3-4 Tbs. EVOO

¼ tsp. hot red pepper flakes (or more, or less, to taste)

Fresh ground black pepper

Pinch ground turmeric

4 anchovy strips, chopped fine

½ sweet red pepper, seeded, chopped

½ yellow onion, chopped

28oz. can whole plum tomatoes with juice

12 littleneck clams, shells soaked,  scrubbed, and rinsed several times

12 bay scallops, rinsed

12 medium shrimp, peeled and rinsed

10 oz. whole wheat pasta (spaghetti or linguine to your preference)

4 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped fine

3-4 Tbs. fresh Italian parsley, rinsed and chopped
Freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

Preparation

Heat the olive oil to medium in a large, deep skillet or Dutch oven.  Add the hot red pepper flakes, black pepper, turmeric, and anchovies, then stir in onions and sweet red peppers and sauté until reduced and browned.  Continue to stir, blending in the anchovies.  Do not burn the onions. Reduce the heat a bit if necessary.

In the meantime, pour the tomatoes and their juices into a large bowl.  With freshly washed hands and no jewelry, reach into the bowl and eviscerate the stem end of each tomato, removing the bitter stem and any residual skin.  When all tomatoes have been plucked, crush them thoroughly between your fingers, then add tomatoes and their juices to the skillet.  Play like it’s kindergarten.

Readjust heat to medium and cook this mixture down, stirring frequently.  You may want to place a screen atop the pot to keep splatters to a minimum.  A cover placed askew to allow air circulation but catch splatters also works.

In a separate large pot, bring salted pasta water to a rapid boil.  Midway, add the scrubbed clams to the sauce and cover -- they may need to cook up to 20 minutes to fully open.  (Note - you are adding the clams to the sauce, not the pasta water.  This is a timing direction).

Add pasta to the boiling water and cook just short of package directions (about 7 minutes).  It will be finished cooking in the sauce.

With 6 minutes to go, add the scallops and chopped garlic to the sauce, stir well, and cover.  Then, with 3 minutes to go, add the shrimp, stir, and cover.

When pasta is done al dente, reserve ½ cup of pasta water and drain the pasta through a colander.  Keep an eye on the sauce, make sure that the clams have opened and that the shrimp turned pink.  If not, let them cook, covered, several more minutes until they have opened.  Remove and discard any clams that do not open.

Add the drained pasta and ½ cup pasta water to the sauce, toss well, top with fresh chopped parsley, and serve immediately topped with a few grinds of Parmigiano Reggiano.

A robust red wine such as the Sicilian classic, Nero D’Avola, is wonderful with this dish.  Fresh, hot, peasant bread and a simple green salad finish off the perfect meal.

Buon appetitio!