Fancy Pants Peasant Pasta with a Garlicky Green Salad

      

        I am currently one year into my marriage and a bit further into adjusting to suburban homeownership.  Over this past year, it has been my goal to save as much money as possible. I have dreams of grandeur that involve building a house with a freakishly large, Tuscan style kitchen and a beautiful patio that plays home to a wood-burning pizza oven.  Part of my savings strategy has been using fantastic websites that have taught me to use coupons and store sales to stock up on essential items.  While I already knew about couponing from clipping my way to savings and better math skills as a child with my father; I have been able to take it to a whole new level.  

      The great thing about saving so much on everyday household items is that I have allowed myself to enjoy perusing the produce or meat market a couple of times a week without guilt.  Even though I am attempting to eat as much fresh food as possible, doesn’t mean that I’m breaking the bank.  My recipes for a dressed up peasant pasta and garlicky green salad allow me to enjoy a fun dinner with my husband without feeling weighed down. These recipes will feed 3-4, but can easily be halved for a date night. It also allows me to have money in my pocket to go out for gelato (or stay home – recipe for chocolate hazelnut gelato to come!)   

Garlicky Green Salad

Ingredients

    3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil – If you a savings-fiend like me, resist the urge to buy cheap olive oil! Stick with a fruity extra-virgin since this is the backbone of this recipe.

    1 cup fresh parsley leaves, roughly chopped

    1 tablespoon grated Parmesan

    1 tablespoon capers

    1 oil-packed anchovy

    1 clove garlic, peeled

    1 head of Romaine – hand torn

    Juice of 1/2 a lemon

     2 tablespoons of raw pine nuts (optional)

Directions

Place the parsley, capers, anchovies, Parmesan, garlic and lemon juice into a food processor and pulse a few times. Begin pouring in your olive oil and blend until smooth.  Grind in a bit of pepper.  Salt will most likely not be necessary, but taste the dressing before you toss it into the salad. It is very important to taste as you go! 

It turned out that the last time I made this recipe, my lemon was a bit bitter. To counteract this, I used a microplane to shave some carrot to bring in some sweetness.  

Toss your romaine with the dressing right before serving. For a rustic touch, shave some fresh Parmesan over the salad. 

If you enjoy pine nuts, I recommend buying them and keeping them in an airtight container in your freezer. For this recipe, toast your pine nuts in a pan over medium-low heat. Be very careful, because they will need to be moved around and only take a couple of minutes in the pan to get that golden color.  Sprinkle the warm pine nuts over the glistening salad. 

The dressing will keep in your refrigerator for a couple of days if you keep it in an airtight container. 

Fancy Pants Peasant Pasta

Ingredients

    1 pound ripe cherry tomatoes (any tomato except for large hot house tomatoes will work)

    2 cloves garlic - minced

    2 anchovy fillets – finely chopped

    4 ounces of black olives sliced – this is about 2/3 of a can of large olives

    1 tablespoon salted capers, rinsed and roughly chopped

    dash crushed red pepper

    1 pound spaghetti – I prefer Barilla Thin Spaghetti

    1 handful fresh parsley – roughly chopped

    salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

    extra-virgin olive oil for coating the pan and more for drizzling

Directions

In a large pot, bring plenty of water to a boil for your pasta.

Chop your cherry tomatoes in half or larger tomatoes into small chunks.  Heat a large, preferably non-stick pan and add olive oil to coat the bottom.  Sauté the garlic, anchovies, olives and capers for about 4-5 minutes.

Add tomatoes and let cook on medium-low heat until they burst and create a light sauce. This takes about 10 minutes.

Salt your pasta water (your only opportunity to season the pasta itself) and cook your pasta.  Cut 2 minutes off of the cooking time of your pasta.

Move the pasta from the water to the pan with your sauce. I do this with tongs so that I can start incorporating the sauce right away. Add a ladle of pasta water to your sauced pasta. Let the pasta complete the last minute of cooking while in the sauce over a medium heat. Toss in a bit of chopped parsley and a small pour of extra-virgin olive oil.