Sicilian Spaghettini

Submitted by CookingONTheSide

"This recipe is so simple but delicious. It makes a great meatless dinner!"

 

• Ready In: 20mins
• Ingredients: 9
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• 1 lb spaghettini
• 1⁄3 cup extra virgin olive oil (good quality)
• 1 tablespoon garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 cup pitted nicoise olive, chopped
• 1 cup bocconcini (or bite-sized bocconcini balls, fresh mozzarella)
• 6 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
• 1⁄3 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

directions

1. Cook spaghettini, according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile, add oil, garlic and pepper flakes to a skillet large enough to hold the cooked pasta.
3. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute; do not let garlic burn.
4. Remove skillet from heat, stir in tomatoes, olives and bocconcini.
5. Drain pasta, reserving some of the cooking liquid; add pasta to skillet.
6. Heat pasta in skillet over medium heat, tossing until just coated with sauce.
7. Stir in pine nuts and parsley.
8. Add some of the reserved cooking liquid if pasta seems dry.
9. Serve immediately.

Reviews

[UmmBinat]

Delicious and pretty. I was looking for a recipe to use bocconcini balls that did not call for fresh basil as I didn't want to wait for the shop. I made ours gluten free using a good quality rice spaghetti, unrefined extra virgin olive oil, cayenne pepper powder instead of crushed red pepper flakes, to taste, as I didn't have them, a good quality canned plum tomatoes which I cut up, black olives not sure what variety, plus the rest of the ingredients. My bocconcini were in water so I added some sea salt and also they were the larger size so I cut them up a bit for eating ease. I'd recommend this recipe.

 

[Leggy Peggy]

A wonderful and easy-to-make pasta dish. I was just a tad short of tomatoes and pine nuts, but that didn't seem to matter. Also used kalamata olives in place of nicoise. Didn't need to add any pasta water. I'll be making this often in future. It's great for a divine, on-the-table-in-a-hurry dinner. Served with a salad and Recipe #164304. Yummo!

 

[Kumquat the Cats fr]

This was an exquisite recipe. My BF and I give this top marks! I included all listed ingredients, but I did change the amounts on most of them. I used only 1 1/2 teaspoon olive oil, only 1/3 cup olives (instead of nicoise I used kalamata - hopefully this didn't make it Greek spaghettini:D), 1/2 cup fresh mozzarella and 2 tablespoons pine nuts. This helped reduce the fat content. I did use the whole 2 cups of grape tomatoes with only 6 ounces spaghettini. (I usually prefer a higher sauce to pasta ratio.) That was perfect for the two of us with a simple side salad. This was so easy to make too, definitely a weekday recipe that's elegant enough for a weekend dinner party. The tomatoes were very sweet and complemented the taste of the olives and cheese. This is going into my keepers cookbook. Thanks Lainey!