Fastest Pasta With Spinach Sauce

By Mark Bittman

Fastest Pasta With Spinach Sauce
Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
Total Time
25 minutes
Rating
5(1,594)
Comments
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The very best pasta is often the simplest. Jack Bishop, the author of “The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook,” has refined his technique for pasta and vegetable sauce to breathtaking efficiency: He cooks the greens with the pasta and adds the seasonings at the last minute. While the pasta is cooking, Mr. Bishop prepares the seasonings.

Allow at least a gallon of water to a pound of pasta, because you need a large pot to accommodate the greens and because, if there is too little water, the addition of the greens will slow the cooking too rapidly.

Featured in: The Minimalist; The Last Word In Easy Pasta

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Ingredients

Yield:3 to 4 servings
  • 1clove garlic
  • ½teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste (optional)
  • About 15 calamata or other olives, pitted and roughly chopped
  • ¼cup plus 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1pound long pasta, like linguine
  • 1pound spinach, washed, tough stems removed, roughly chopped
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

613 calories; 20 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 13 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 90 grams carbohydrates; 7 grams dietary fiber; 4 grams sugars; 18 grams protein; 598 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. 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 red pepper flakes, olives and olive oil.

  2. Step 2

    Place the pasta in 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 pasta and spinach in the bowl with the garlic and olive mixture. Season with salt and pepper, and serve.

Ratings

5 out of 5
1,594 user ratings
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Comments

Maria

I dislike glops of spinach in any recipe. Instead chop spinach a la Chiffonade: roll several leaves together to make a cigar-like form and cut across the width. You'll get lovely green ribbons.

Sara

I find that it needs a little something more, so I usually add a little lemon juice to the olive oil/olive mix, then serve with freshly-grated parmesan. The acid from the lemon juice brightens the whole dish.

ALSinDC

This is yummy. A slight variation: just heap all the spinach into a colander. Then drain the pasta on top of it. The result is bright green spinach, perfectly wilted.

Adrienne

Yes, it needs boosted. I used pignoli nuts, extra olives, lemon juice and capers. Sun dried tomatoes would have been a great addition too. I used copious amounts of parm and romano with a good amount of s and p. Still, a great starter of a recipe.

taoschris

Raw garlic can be a bit much for me so when I made this I put the minced garlic and chile flakes in a bowl with the oil and microwaved it a bit to slightly soften it and warm it up. I often do this for recipes that call for raw garlic to temper the sharpness of the garlic.

Mary

Added some chopped sun dried tomatoes.

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