1/2 lb. (or box) long, thin pasta (spaghetti or the like)
1 1/2 T butter (Think I left this out as my pasta wasn't fresh.)
1/2 cup grated Pecorino
2 eggs
3 T bread crumbs
6 T Olive oil
Stir butter into pasta cooked to al dente and drained. Combine eggs, cheese, and bread crumbs in bowl and stir in pasta. Heat the oil over medium heat in a wide skillet. Using a fork, twist sections of the spaghetti into "nests" as large as you can make them. Cook the nests in the oil 2-3 minutes or until golden brown on each side. I used a smaller skillet and made two batches so they wouldn't cool between servings.
It's really important to me as we are trying out the pasta recipes to remember to have additional vegetables. It's easy to eat nothing but a giant plate of pasta, but it's so important to remember to add additional nutrients and fiber. So, you'll often see a salad with a variety of ingredients based on what I have on hand and what is already allocated for another meal.This is the most simple of pasta dishes, but it packs a very special punch.
Aglio y Olio Sauce
Adapted from: Geometry of Pasta by Caz Hildebrand & Jacob Kennedy
4 cloves minced garlic
1/2 cup good olive oil (Our favorite is Trader Joe's.)
1/2-3/4 t crushed red pepper flakes
3 T flat leaf (Italian) parsley, chopped
Saute garlic in olive oil just a minute. Do not let it change color. Add red pepper flakes, then drained pasta and up to 6 tablespoons of the salted cooking water. Saute together long enough to coat the noodles. Add parsley and serve.
The author recommends starting this pasta just 2 minutes before your pasta is done cooking. Also, you want to make sure you a) don't rinse your pasta and b) cook the pasta until just before perfection because it will still cook in the skillet.
It's been so long since I posted a menu plan--not because I didn't have one, but because there were other things to talk about. Plus, there were the holidays when you generally just think of leftovers for every meal.
The Geometry of Pasta even got on the New York Times' radar in December. Besides being a truly beautiful and fun book to look at with its black and white renditions of the varieties of pasta you can and sometimes can't find at your local grocery store, it's filled with historical explanations like where the pasta got its name and when or how it was invented.
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