A Generous Table

This kind of ended up being my kitchen sink dinner!  I had a pouch of semi-dried tomatoes a little past their best by date, so I figured they should be cooked, as well as the remains of a block of local feta from Haystack Mountain that desperately needed to be used.  Mushrooms sounded good, and I thought the spinach I had hanging out in the fridge would brighten up the dish.  The base of this dish is the classic Aglio Olio – garlic & olive oil sauce for pasta.  Frequently Aglio Olio has red pepper flakes added, which would be a nice addition, but I wasn’t feeling spicy!  Feel free to use this as approximations – pasta is very forgiving!  A nice sunny, but warm and comforting meal for a cold snowy day like today…

Pasta with Feta, Mushrooms, Sundried Tomatoes and Spinach

• 1 lb dried pasta, such as penne, rigatoni or farfalle
• 1/2 cup Feta crumbles
• 8oz mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 8oz spinach (baby or roughly chopped)
• 1 pouch O&Co Semi-dried tomatoes, or a small jar (drained) of sundried tomatoes, chopped
• 1/4 cup good quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil (or you can use the drained oil from sundried tomatoes)
• 4-6 cloves garlic
• 1 Tbs chopped fresh parsley
• Sea Salt and pepper, to taste

Fill a large pot (approx 4 quarts) with water, adding 2 teaspoons salt,  and bring to a boil over high heat.  Make sure to salt the water to add better flavor to the finished dish (and less salt in the finished dish – it takes more salt to make up for bland pasta than the pasta would absorb from the salted water).   While water is heating, gather remaining ingredients. When water is at a rolling boil, add pasta and stir to prevent clumping.  Stir again after one minute of cooking.  Cook pasta for 1-2 minutes less than the doneness you desire, as pasta will continue to cook when tossed with toppings.  While pasta is cooking, heat olive oil over medium high heat (do not allow to get so hot it smokes – if it is smoking it is burning!) in a very large saute pan.  Add mushrooms, season with salt and pepper,  and saute until all the liquid they have released has evaporated and the mushrooms are starting to turn golden.  Add the garlic to the pan and cook one minute, or until garlic is lightly golden – do not brown garlic or it will taste bitter.  Add the tomatoes and parsley – cook another minute.  If pasta is not done, remove saute pan from heat until pasta is cooked.  When pasta is ready, drain, reserving 1 cup of the pasta water.  Add pasta and reserved pasta water to saute pan and stir to mix well.  Toss in the spinach and the feta, stirring to combine, until the spinach is barely cooked.  Taste and adjust for seasoning.  With the salty feta, you shouldn’t need much, if any, salt.  Serves 4-6.  This would also be good with pine nuts or tuna added.  Mangia bene!