Winter Pasta with Olives, Herbs, and Lemon
This pasta is fast, warm, and bright, and made solely with pantry ingredients.
Serves4
For 13 years I lived in New York, where winter can be long and cold and dark and drive a person to consider one-way tickets to island locales or self-medicate with huge bowls of noodles. Anecdotal evidence suggests that this pasta can shorten the duration and decrease severity of a common case of the Winters. It’s fast, warm, and bright, and because it’s made solely with pantry ingredients it requires only slightly more effort than unfolding a beach chair. Lemon adds a bit of sunshine. Olives and Parmesan transport you to Sicily. A handful of long-lasting parsley reminds me that warmer weather will, in fact, come again.
Winter Pasta with Olives, Herbs, and Lemon Recipe
This pasta is fast, warm, and bright, and made solely with pantry ingredients.
Serves 4
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
- 1 pound
pasta, any shape
Kosher salt and black pepper
- 1/4 cup
olive oil
- 2
yellow onions, halved and thinly sliced
- 8
garlic cloves, smashed and sliced
- 1/2 cup
pitted and chopped castelvetrano olives
- 1/2 cup
chopped fresh herbs such as parsley, chives, basil and/or mint
Juice from 1/2 lemon
Grated Parmesan, for serving
Instructions
Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water according to package directions for al dente.
Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large skillet over high. Add onions and garlic and cook, tossing occasionally until beginning to brown and blister, 3 to 4 minutes. Season with 1 teaspoon salt and several grinds pepper and continue to cook, tossing, until mostly dark brown all over, 6 to 8 minutes more. Reduce the heat as low as it will go while the pasta finishes cooking.
Using tongs, transfer pasta directly to the skillet along with 1 cup pasta water. Increase heat to high and cook, tossing, until liquid thickens and coats the pasta, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat, add olives, herbs and lemon juice and toss to combine. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if you like. Serve topped with Parmesan.
Recipe Notes
From READY, SET, COOK by Dawn Perry. Copyright © 2021 by Dawn Perry. Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.