Whole Wheat Spaghetti With Swiss Chard And Pecorino Cheese Recipes

WHOLE WHEAT SPAGHETTI WITH SWISS CHARD AND PECORINO CHEESE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Place the pine nuts on a heavy baking sheet or in a pie tin. Toast nuts in the oven, stirring occasionally to ensure they brown evenly for about 10 minutes or until they are brown. Set the nuts aside.
• Heat the oil in a large, heavy frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and saute until tender, about 8 minutes. Add the chard and saute until it wilts, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes with their juice, the wine, and the red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil. Decrease the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes begin to break down and the chard is very tender, about 5 minutes. Season the chard mixture to taste with salt and pepper.
• While performing step 2, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the spaghetti and cook, stirring often to prevent the pasta from sticking together, until tender but still firm to the bite, about 8 minutes. Drain. Add the spaghetti to the chard mixture and toss to combine.
• Transfer the pasta to bowls; sprinkle with pine nuts, olives, and cheese on top and serve.

PASTA WITH SWISS CHARD

Steps:

• Fill a large pot with lightly salted water and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Once the water is boiling, stir in the spaghetti, and return to a boil. Cook the pasta uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the pasta has cooked through, but is still firm to the bite, about 8 minutes. Drain well in a colander set in the sink.
• Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in the garlic, and cook for 1 minute to soften. Add the Swiss chard. Cook and stir until the stems of the chard are tender. You can use some of the hot pasta water to help steam the chard in the covered pan.
• Stir the hot spaghetti into the chard mixture along with the capers. Season to taste with salt and black pepper, and drizzle with lemon juice if desired. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese to serve.

WHOLE WHEAT PASTA WITH ROASTED SHRIMP AND CHERRY TOMATOES

Steps:

• Note on Italian dressing: I use about 1/4 cup for marinating, but discard most of it after marinading. I list 1 T. in the ingredient list so that the nutrition facts more accurately reflect what is eaten and what is discarded.
• Marinate shrimp in about 1/4 cup Italian dressing. A Ziplock bag is handy for this step. **You'll be discarding most of the marinade later.
• While shrimp is marinating, heat oven to 400 degrees. Cut cherry tomatoes in half. Toss tomatoes with olive oil and garlic salt. Place tomatoes in shallow metal roasting pan, cut sides UP, which will help tomato juices to evaporate. Roast 30 minutes until bottoms start to caramelize and have bits of black (metal pans helps achieve caramelization during roasting).
• When tomatoes are done, push them toward the center of the pan and place shrimp around the outside of the pan. Discard marinade. Continue to roast tomatoes and shrimp about 4-6 more minutes, depending on the size of your shrimp (turn once after 2 minutes).
• Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and reserve 1/2 cup pasta water. Toss pasta with cooked tomatoes and shrimp. Use the reserved pasta water to clean up any bits in the roasting pan, and then add this flavorful water to the pasta as well.
• Toss everything with basil leaves and romano cheese. Serve.