Spaghetti Cooked in Red Wine & Two Pizzas
Spaghetti can be eaten most successfully if you inhale it like a vacuum cleaner
Sophia Loren
Spaghetti vino rosso
At least 5 nights a month I get to make dinner for one and I usually peruse books that I haven’t used forever or an Italian book that is filled with pasta or fresh pizza ideas. This past week I made a spaghetti dish that I have meant to get around to for years, so simple but forgotten until you see some leftover wine that screams cook spaghetti in red wine. So I finally got around to making a spaghetti vino rosso and I put it on the keeper list. I made enough for two, dinner one night and lunch the next day. Simple ingredients combined for a quick, easy, lovely bowl of pasta.
spaghetti in vino rosso ~ easily doubled
adapted from Cucina Italiana
2 to 4 servings
Ingredients
- Salt
- 1 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- 1-1/anchovy fillets, rinsed and roughly chopped, I’m going to try the salted ones next time
- 1 large garlic clove, minced
- 1 dried arbol chilies, crushed
- 1-1/2 + cups Italian red wine
- 1/2 pound bucatini or spaghetti
- ½ cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley
- Zest of ½ large lemon
- ½ cup freshly grated pecorino romano genuino or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Instructions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
In a large, high-sided skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add anchovy, garlic and chili; reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until garlic is softened, about 2 minutes; remove from heat. Stir in wine and generous pinch salt.
Add pasta to boiling water and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Drain (do not rinse) and transfer to skillet with wine. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring gently and steadily with tongs, until wine is just about absorbed, 7 to 8 minutes; remove from heat. Stir in parsley, lemon zest and pinch salt. Divide pasta among bowls, drizzle with oil, sprinkle with cheese and serve immediately.
Two Pizzas ~ Gorgonzola & Caramelized Onion Pizza
BBQ Chicken & Cheese
BBQ Chicken Pizza
Easy pizza if you have your dough made ahead of time…a simple sun-dried tomato puree added to a little fresh tomato sauce, fresh chopped chives, crumbled gorgonzola, seasoned and dusted with freshly grated parm before serving…
I used some of the leftover rough chopped rotisserie chicken added a bit of BBQ Sauce (about 2-3 tablespoons depending on the amount of chicken), use your favorite sauce, I had some frozen homemade and I was making just one 8-inch pizza. I divided my sun-dried tomato sauce and added 2 or so tablespoons to the sauce for the BBQ chicken pizza.
Heat a pizza stone in a 500° oven, shape your pizza, brush with just a little EVOO, spread with a little sun-dried tomato sauce, top with gorgonzola, caramelized onions and fresh chopped chives.
Gorgonzola & Caramelized Onion Pizza
For the second pizza brush with EVOO, thinly spread BBQ tomato sauce, sprinkle a blend of your favorite cheeses, top with chicken and dot with a little more sauce.
Both pizzas will take about 7-8 minutes each, place on wooden board dust with freshly grated parm, some cracked pepper, slice and serve.
Slices of Each
It was very good. I always have the dough in the freezer make pizza once a week. I’ll be making pizza on the grill this week. The BBQ chicken was very good, much to “my stick to pizza basics” surprise.
Ooh, that Gorgonzola pizza looks wonderful!