Best Pasta With Currants And Pine Nuts Recipes

PASTA WITH CURRANTS AND PINE NUTS

Steps:

• Heat oil in pan, add garlic and onions, cook stirring until onions are soft.
• Add spices, cook stirring until fragrant.
• Add chickpeas tomatoes, currants and extra olive oil stir until combined and heated through.
• Add pasta to large pan boiling water, boil, uncovered until just tender, drain.
• Combine chickpea mixture and pasta in bowl sprinkle with nuts and basil.

PASTA WITH ROAST CHICKEN, CURRANTS AND PINE NUTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Arrange thighs in a large roasting pan, preferably nonstick. Thickly sprinkle with salt, pepper and paprika, and dot with butter. Bake until just cooked through and skin is crisp (if oven has a convection feature, use it), about 35 minutes.
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. When chicken is done, let cool slightly, then use hands (rubber gloves are helpful) to pull meat and skin from bones, making bite-size pieces. Reserve meat and skin in roasting pan; discard bones.
• Meanwhile, add pasta to boiling water and cook just until tender but not mushy. Reserving 1 cup cooking water, drain pasta and add to roasting pan with chicken meat and skin. Add 1/2 cup pasta cooking water to roasting pan on stovetop and turn heat to low.
• Add rosemary, currants and pine nuts to roasting pan and toss, adding more salt and black pepper to taste, and more cooking water if mixture seems dry. Sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately in shallow bowls.

SPINACH AND PINE NUTS WITH PENNE

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add penne and boil for 10 minutes or according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a heavy 12-inch skillet heat butter and olive oil until foamy. Add pine nuts and saute, stirring continuously until they turn golden. Add garlic and saute for a minute to release the aroma. Add spinach in two batches if you must and toss together just until wilted. Season with salt and pepper. Add a tablespoon or so of water to get spinach steaming. Drain pasta and serve in bowl. Toss with wilted spinach and garnish with port soaked currants.

PASTA WITH ANCHOVIES, CURRANTS, FENNEL, AND PINE NUTS

Steps:

• Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add anchovies; mash with back of fork. Add onion, fennel, and red pepper. Sauté vegetables until tender, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, pine nuts, and currants. Reduce heat to low and cook 5 minutes to blend flavors; season with salt and pepper.
• Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite.
• Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid. Add saffron to reserved liquid and stir to dissolve. Return pasta and saffron water to pot. Add tomato mixture; toss over low heat until sauce coats pasta. Mix in breadcrumbs and transfer to bowl.

PASTA WITH TUNA, ANCHOVIES, PINE NUTS AND CURRANTS

Steps:

• In a heavy skillet saute the garlic and onion in the olive oil over medium heat until they are pale golden, about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove the garlic. Add the mashed anchovies and, stirring with a wooden spoon, let them melt over the heat, dissolving in the oil. Stir in the tomatoes, pine nuts, currants, salt and pepper and cook over medium heat for 7 to 10 minutes. Set this mixture aside.
• Bring the water to a boil in a large pot, add the sea salt and cook the pappardelle until it is al dente. Reserve some cooking water in case you need it to thin the sauce.
• Flake the tuna with a fork, add it to the anchovy-tomato sauce and mix it in well. Toss the pasta with most of the sauce, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil if needed and pour the remainder of the sauce over the top. Serve immediately sprinkled with the parsley and toasted bread crumbs.

LEMON PASTA WITH CHICKEN AND PINE NUTS

Steps:

• Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add chicken and sauté until cooked through, about 5 minutes per side. Cool. Cut chicken crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick strips.
• Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite. Drain well; transfer to large bowl. Add 1 tablespoon oil; toss to coat. Add chicken, snow peas, pine nuts and parsley; toss to incorporate all ingredients.
• Whisk lemon juice and mustard in medium bowl. Add remaining 3/4 cup oil in thin stream, whisking constantly. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Toss pasta with enough dressing to coat. (Can be made 3 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Toss before serving.)

TORCHIO WITH CAULIFLOWER, CAVOLO NERO, CURRANTS, AND PINE NUTS

Steps:

• Put two large pots of heavily salted water on to boil.
• Blanch the cavolo nero in rapidly boiling water for 2 minutes. Drain, and cool the greens on a baking sheet. When they have cooled, squeeze out the excess water with your hands.
• Heat a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat for 2 minutes. Pour in 1/4 cup olive oil. Add the rosemary sprig and 1 crumbled chile, and let them sizzle in the oil about a minute. Turn the heat down to medium-low and add the sliced onion. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and a few grindings of black pepper. Cook a couple of minutes, then stir in half the sliced garlic. Continue cooking gently until the onion is soft and starting to color slightly, another 5 to 7 minutes.
• Add the cavolo nero and 2 more tablespoons olive oil, stirring with a wooden spoon to coat the greens with the oil. Season with a heaping 1/4 teaspoon salt, and cook the cavolo nero slowly, over low heat, about 30 minutes, stirring often, until the greens turn a dark, almost black color and get slightly crispy around the edges. (I usually alternate turning the heat up a little bit, so the cavolo sizzles, and then turning it back down to low, so it stews.) Turn off the heat and set aside. When it's cooled, remove the rosemary and chile.
• Preheat the oven to 375°F.
• While the greens are cooking, toss the breadcrumbs with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Spread them on a baking sheet and toast 8 to 10 minutes, stirring once or twice, until golden brown and crispy.
• Blanch the cauliflower in rapidly boiling water for 4 to 5 minutes, until just tender and not too crunchy. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a baking sheet to cool. Bring the water back to a boil and drop in the pasta.
• Heat a large sauté pan or Dutch oven over high heat for 2 minutes. Pour in 1/4 cup olive oil and wait a minute. Add the diced onion, the remaining crumbled chile, and the thyme. Sauté over medium heat 2 minutes, and then add the anchovy. Stir well with a wooden spoon to break up the anchovy and dissolve it into the onion. Turn the heat up to high and add the cauliflower. Stir well, to coat the cauliflower with the oil. Add the remaining sliced garlic, and season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and a few grindings of black pepper. Add the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil, and sauté the cauliflower 8 to 10 minutes, until it's caramelized, scraping the pan continuously with a wooden spoon, and smashing the cauliflower a little to make small pieces. Add the cavolo nero to the pot, and stir well to combine.
• When the pasta is al dente, set aside 1 cup of the cooking water.
• Drain the pasta and add it to the vegetables, stirring and tossing well to combine and coat the noodles. The pasta will fry a little in the oil and stick to the pan; this is good, so keep scraping and tossing with the wooden spoon.
• After a few minutes, when the pasta is well coated and has a little color on it, add 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water to the pan. Stir to combine, and add more water if necessary. Taste for seasoning. Add the currant-pine nut relish and stir to combine. Transfer the pasta to a large warm platter and shower the toasted breadcrumbs over the entire dish.
• If you can't find torchio, choose a pasta with lots of nooks and crannies to capture all those delicious ingredients. You can stew the cavolo, blanch the cauliflower, and toast the breadcrumbs in advance.