Pecan Spinach Pasta

This recipe can be a stand-alone meal; it's also good cold as a leftover. It sometimes turns out a bit dry.

Ingredients

• 500 grams pasta (ideally penne)
• 3 generous tablespoons olive oil
• 2 large garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 onion (ideally red), sliced
• ¾ cup pecan halves
• 1 pack of frozen spinach, or, better, a moderate amount of fresh spinach
• Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
• Salt to taste
• 1 cup feta cheese or feta substitute (optional)

Steps

1. Bring a pan of water to a boil and once it has a good rolling boil, put in the pasta. Start checking it about 2 minutes before the amount of time specified on the package by tasting a piece. A commonly held ideal for pasta is that it should be al dente, which means a tiny, tiny bit undercooked, rather than soft and mushy; it does not mean raw. Drain the pasta once it's done.
2. While the pasta is cooking, combine the olive oil, red pepper flakes, and garlic in a cold skillet. Put them on medium heat.
3. After a brief amount of time, add the onion slices.
4. Once the onion is slightly browned, add the pecan halves and sauté them for two minutes.
5. Add the spinach.
6. Once the spinach is done, add salt.
7. Put the sauce on the drained pasta and serve.

More recipes with pasta, garlic, onion, pecans, spinach or red pepper flakes

Adapted from “Pecan Spinach Pasta” in the Wikibooks Cookbook by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Reformatted for this site; this page's recipe text is shared under the same license.