Sunday, February 13, 2011

Penne with Tomatoes, Spinach, and Cannellini Beans

I found the recipe on MyRecipes.com and on the site the recipe was called Greek Pasta with Tomatoes and White Beans. I suppose the fact that the recipe includes feta cheese and spinach makes it somewhat Greek. But, even with my love of all things Greek, I'll just refer to my recipe by simpler terms. And as is becoming typical of my cooking, I improvised here and there and didn't do a whole lot of official measuring. And because I usually cook for just myself and not 4-6 people, I halved the recipe. So here is what I did...

Ingredients:
Olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 small onion or shallot, diced
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 can cannellini (white kidney) beans, drained and rinsed
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
Dried oregano
Dried basil
Penne pasta
2-3 handfulls of baby spinach
Feta cheese
Parmesean cheese

Directions:
1. In a large skillet over medium heat, saute onions and garlic in olive oil for about 3 minutes.

2. Add tomatoes and beans and season with salt, pepper, oregano, and basil. Bring to a slight boil, then reduce heat and simmer.


3. Cook pasta according to package directions.

4. When the pasta has about 2-3 more minutes of cooking time, add the spinach to the tomato sauce.

5. Drain pasta and dish sauce over it. Top with feta and parmesean cheese.


Cooking Tip: Whenever I'm seasoning dishes like this, I always go really light on the salt because you'll get a little bit of saltiness from the cheese that you add later. There also tends to be higher sodium levels in canned tomatoes and beans. Whenever possible, try to look for kinds that are low sodium or have no salt added. If the dish isn't salty enough for you when you start eating, you can always add more as you see fit—or better yet add more cheese. You can always add salt later but you can never really take it away once it's there, so go easy in the beginning.

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