Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Some Pasta

Last night I had an unexpected free evening---a board meeting for work was cancelled and I was able to go home right at 5:00.
Not having planned anything in my 'food diary'  (yes, I am keeping one now--a meal planner is the same thing, which I did anyway, this one is just in a journal type of notebook),  because originally I wouldn't be home,  I decided to put Jenny  Rosenstrach  (of  Dinner;  A Love Story)  to the test.

I made her favorite (so she says in the book) meal ever!  Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Caramelized Onions and Parmesan. 
Total Time?   15 minutes.

Okay the Handyman threw a few chicken thighs on the grill  (he cannot do vegetarian except as a side.  He has to have his meat.) but those didn't take too long either.



We loved this  pasta and spinach dish.  Except being as we are not nearly as healthy as Jenny Rosenstrach,  we thought a good pat of butter on the pasta made it even better!!  Browned butter?  Now, that's a thought! Mmmmmm.

Even tho the Handyman loves his meat and potatoes best  (he's that kind of guy), he really could do this  pasta dish alone.  He liked the caramelized onions in the pasta a lot.  Me too.
I have to fess up tho... I had no whole wheat pasta, so we just used what we  had; regular spaghetti.
We played cribbage afterwards to see who would do the dishes and guess what?  It wasn't me!!  I got to grab my book, a  gin and tonic  (something wrong having the cocktail AFTER the dinner?) and the patio swing.  A perfect night.

Perfect!





Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Caramelized Onions, Spinach and Parmesan
from:  Dinner, A Love Story


Few glugs of olive oil  (I used a bit of butter too)
3 large onions, sliced
1 pound whole wheat spaghetti  (I just used what I had)
Small handful of thawed frozen spinach
or
big handful of fresh spinach
1 T. balsamic vinegar
Lots of freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Pour the oil into a skillet set over medium heat and cook the onions, stirring every few minutes, for a minimum of 15 and up to 45 minutes.  While the onions cook, prepare the spaghetti to package directions.  During the last minute of pasta cooking, add your spinach to the water.  Drain the pasta and the spinach together.  
Toss the spinach with a little olive oil  (or butter as we did)
Stir the balsamic vinegar into the onions.
Serve the pasta in bowls, then heap on the onions and Parmesan cheese.




3 comments:

bermudaonion said...

I can't get my guys to eat whole wheat pasta so I'd have to use the regular too. I love pasta so that looks delicious to me. I haven't played cribbage in a while.

Karen said...

Mmm, this sounds so good. I picked a lot of spinach from the garden several days ago and have been throwing a hand full into just about everything we've eaten. Happy 4th!

Susan Lindquist said...

That does sound like the perfect evening! And the pasta looks awesome ... and easy!

Friday Friend recipe #352

  Making my way thru my  Friday Friend Cookbook , one recipe at a time. What is the Friday Friend cookbook?  I once had about 50 of my close...