It is pasta’s nature to be simple. I’ve long made a vegetable sauce by poaching greens such as spinach in the pasta water, then removing them and adding the pasta, a neat trick. But my friend Jack Bishop, author of Vegetarian Italian Cooking, mentioned that he’d gone one step further, cooking the greens right in with the pasta and adding seasonings at the last minute. The method relies on the fact that there is a period of two or three minutes between the moment when the pasta’s last traces of chalkiness disappear and the point where it begins to become mushy. If, just before the pasta is done, you add the greens, whose tough stems have been removed, greens and pasta will finish cooking at the same time. When making this dish and others like it, you must adhere to the often ignored canon of allowing at least a gallon of water per pound of pasta, because you need a pot large enough to accommodate the greens and because they cannot be allowed to slow down the cooking too much
Recipe information
Yield
makes 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Meanwhile, mince the garlic as finely as possible and combine it in the bottom of a warm bowl with the hot pepper if you’re using it and olive oil.
Step 2
Add the pasta to the pot and cook until it is nearly done (test it for doneness by tasting). Plunge the spinach into the water and cook until it wilts, less than a minute. Drain quickly, allowing some water to cling to the pasta, and toss in the bowl with the garlic and olive oil mixture. Season with salt and black pepper to taste and serve.
Variations
Step 3
One-Pot Pasta and Greens, Asian Style: Use Asian wheat noodles and substitute 1/4 cup peanut oil plus 1 tablespoon sesame oil for the olive oil. Add 1 tablespoon soy sauce to the hot pepper and garlic; garnish with 2 tablespoons lightly toasted sesame seeds.
Step 4
Toss the pasta with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or pecorino cheese to taste.
Step 5
Add any of the following to the garlic-pepper-oil mixture, singly or in combination: about 15 Kalamata or other olives, pitted and roughly chopped; about 1/4 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil; about 2 tablespoons drained capers; about 1/2 cup toasted bread crumbs; about 1/4 cup minced prosciutto or other dry-cured ham.
