A True Garlic Lover's Pasta!

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

CraigC

Master Chef
Joined
Jan 27, 2011
Messages
6,486
We have a cookbook called "The Treasury of Creative Cooking", which has a recipe for "Spinach and Garlic Pasta with Onion and Garlic Sauce". We've made this many times, but not for a long while. We both got the hankering for it this past weekend and Karen made the dough Sunday and we had it last night.:yum:

I was going to write the recipe here, rewording it enough to comply with the rules, but I actually found the exact recipe on line. Linky.

Spinach Garlic Pasta With Garlic Onion Sauce by creative.chef | ifood.tv

A couple things we do differently. The spinach gets blanched, cooled (not shocked) and squeezed to remove as much liquid as possible. Then it and the garlic for the pasta, along with a little flour, go into the food processor to get chopped fine. Makes it easier to get a smooth dough.

Only use two egg yolks, four makes the dough too wet and you'll need much more flour.

Enjoy!
 
Talking of garlic and pasta. My mum is Italian and a cheap and traditional peasant dish (simple but tasty), is to cook spaghetti al dente, drain and place into plates with butter, crushed garlic and chopped parsley. Mix to combine.

Another garlicy pasta favourite of mine is placing cooked pasta into plate and adding boursin (the garlicy cream cheese), some chopped sun blushed tomatoes and chopped fresh basil or sage.
 
Interesting. Can I use the frozen spinach?

Absolutely. Just make sure you squeeze as much liquid out as possible.

We tried this once with purchased fresh spinach pasta. It just wasn't the same because the homemade had the garlic in the pasta.
 
Talking of garlic and pasta. My mum is Italian and a cheap and traditional peasant dish (simple but tasty), is to cook spaghetti al dente, drain and place into plates with butter, crushed garlic and chopped parsley. Mix to combine...

Love this. I make it all the time swapping out butter for EVVO, depending on my tastes that day, or basil for parsley. OK, maybe I make it different, but you can't beat garlic with pasta :yum:
 
Love this. I make it all the time swapping out butter for EVVO, depending on my tastes that day, or basil for parsley. OK, maybe I make it different, but you can't beat garlic with pasta :yum:

Ah yes, I realise now that oil is the authentic version of this (butter is my corruption!) :wub:
 
I always add a couple of cloves of garlic to the water when I cook boiled potatoes or pasta. And I leave them in when drained. :angel:
 
I typed out the recipe, adding in our modifications. However, there IS something missing, I'm going to have to pull the book out, so look for an edit to the recipe below. Hopefully, I've also made notes about a more exact amount of flour.



Spinach Garlic Pasta with Onion and Marsala sauce


All purpose flour
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 Tbsp Olive oil
1/2 pound fresh spinach, steamed with just enough water in pot to form steam, cooled slightly, squeezed very dry and finely chopped
6 large cloves garlic, very finely chopped, preferably microplane grated
1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 cup/8 Tbsp Butter
1 pound Vidalia onions/Sweet onions , sliced
1/3 cup chopped garlic about 12 large cloves
1 Tbsp Honey
1/4 cup Marsala wine

You can make the pasta the traditional way by making a well of about 1 cup flour on a board, placing the eggs in the center with the olive oil, spinach, garlic, and salt, then mixing and adding in flour as needed.

Or, you can place about a cup of floor into a food processor, along with the other ingredients, pulsing to get everything chopped even finer, then adding flour until it begins to form a ball, then knead a bit on a board. Using the food processor makes it easier to get a smooth dough.

Wrap dough with plastic wrap and let rest for 15-20 minutes at minimum. I usually make it earlier in the day and refrigerate, taking it out an hour or so before we are ready to start dinner so it will warm up.

Divide dough into quarters or thirds depending on your pasta machine and roll dough to desired thickness. Cut into 1/2 inch or so widths and flour well. Set aside and make sauce.

To make sauce, over medium heat add butter and oil to a large skillet. Add onions and garlic, cover and cook until soft, about 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in honey and reduce heat to low. Cook, uncovered, for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in wine and cook 5 to 10 minutes more.

Shake off the excess flour from pasta and cook in a large amount of salted boiling water for 3-4 minutes. Drain. Pour sauce over pasta; toss gently to coat.
 
It's approximately 1-1/2 cups flour and there is nothing missing, other than I sometimes add a little water if the pasta dough is too dry.
 
That's a very nice recipe!

May I suggest another? It's so simple you'll laugh! But it's a great favourite in Italy, usually when you have friends round after going out for the evening. You probably know all about this one, but here it is:

Per person: 8oz thin spaghetti, chopped fresh hot chili, quantities as per preference per individual, lots of fresh garlic, or to taste, as preference per individual, the best EVOO you can lay your hands on, judge quantities by eyeball, the spaghetti should be shiny. Beer or wine, according to your preference. No rules, really, except that you enjoy a great evening! But you probably will already know all about that!

Buon appetito!

di reston


Enough is never as good as a feast Oscar Wilde
 
I typed out the recipe, adding in our modifications. However, there IS something missing, I'm going to have to pull the book out, so look for an edit to the recipe below. Hopefully, I've also made notes about a more exact amount of flour.



Spinach Garlic Pasta with Onion and Marsala sauce


All purpose flour
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 Tbsp Olive oil
1/2 pound fresh spinach, steamed with just enough water in pot to form steam, cooled slightly, squeezed very dry and finely chopped
6 large cloves garlic, very finely chopped, preferably microplane grated
1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 cup/8 Tbsp Butter
1 pound Vidalia onions/Sweet onions , sliced
1/3 cup chopped garlic about 12 large cloves
1 Tbsp Honey
1/4 cup Marsala wine

You can make the pasta the traditional way by making a well of about 1 cup flour on a board, placing the eggs in the center with the olive oil, spinach, garlic, and salt, then mixing and adding in flour as needed.

Or, you can place about a cup of floor into a food processor, along with the other ingredients, pulsing to get everything chopped even finer, then adding flour until it begins to form a ball, then knead a bit on a board. Using the food processor makes it easier to get a smooth dough.

Wrap dough with plastic wrap and let rest for 15-20 minutes at minimum. I usually make it earlier in the day and refrigerate, taking it out an hour or so before we are ready to start dinner so it will warm up.

Divide dough into quarters or thirds depending on your pasta machine and roll dough to desired thickness. Cut into 1/2 inch or so widths and flour well. Set aside and make sauce.

To make sauce, over medium heat add butter and oil to a large skillet. Add onions and garlic, cover and cook until soft, about 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in honey and reduce heat to low. Cook, uncovered, for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in wine and cook 5 to 10 minutes more.

Shake off the excess flour from pasta and cook in a large amount of salted boiling water for 3-4 minutes. Drain. Pour sauce over pasta; toss gently to coat.
I love roasted garlic, how do you think that would work in your recipe?

Edited to add I don't have any fresh spinach on hand and with the high of 16F and 5 inches of snow in my driveway I probably won't be going anywhere...
 
Last edited:
I love roasted garlic, how do you think that would work in your recipe?

Edited to add I don't have any fresh spinach on hand and with the high of 16F and 5 inches of snow in my driveway I probably won't be going anywhere...
You'll use a lot of the garlic punch that way, but I don't see why not. With the honey and marsala though it might be too sweet without that extra punch, don't know.

You'll definitely have to use a food processor with frozen spinach because of all the stems that are usually in it. Make sure it's good and dry.
 
You'll use a lot of the garlic punch that way, but I don't see why not. With the honey and marsala though it might be too sweet without that extra punch, don't know.

You'll definitely have to use a food processor with frozen spinach because of all the stems that are usually in it. Make sure it's good and dry.
I was actually just planning on making the pasta and not the marsala sauce (I don't have any marsala wine on hand for one). I will probably just do a light tomato based sauce with mushrooms and some sort of protein, maybe parmesan encrusted chicken breasts, don't know yet. I really love the mellow flavor of roasted garlic and not so much the "in your face" garlic flavor.

The frozen spinach is actually a bag of baby spinach I had bought and then tossed in the freezer when stuff came up where I knew I wasn't going to be able to use it within a few days. I figured I would thaw it out and wring it dry through my fine mesh screen strainer. I don't think it had much in the way of stems. Usually fresh-frozen spinach breaks up pretty easily while it's still frozen.
 
Last edited:
Oh, BTW, the whole recipe is good for 2 people as a stand alone meal, with some leftover. If it's a side with an added protein, it will serve 4.

The dough freezes well, just freeze it whole in a disk, then shape after thawing in refrigerator and letting it sit out for a while. Don't try and shape, then freeze. It gets really brittle and breaks very easily.
 
Oh, BTW, the whole recipe is good for 2 people as a stand alone meal, with some leftover. If it's a side with an added protein, it will serve 4.

The dough freezes well, just freeze it whole in a disk, then shape after thawing in refrigerator and letting it sit out for a while. Don't try and shape, then freeze. It gets really brittle and breaks very easily.
Good to know. The spaghetti I make does freeze quite well and I have been cutting it and then putting it in ziplocks in the freezer. It does break fairly easy but that doesn't bother me because my husband likes short pasta strands over long spaghetti and I don't care either way. You think that this type of pasta is even more brittle though?
 
The first and last time I froze it, we had little pieces instead of 1/2ish inch wide strips.
Ok fair warning then!

The one thing though: when I make it in my KA, my stand mixer bowl is so big that the dough hook won't grab the dough very well if I make small amounts. If I make a larger amount than we can use and I have too much cut, maybe I could freeze the cut pasta in a flat rectangular tupperware or pyrex container? I have a hard time gauging how much I am going to need, still pretty new to the pasta making scene.

How do you think this dough would do for making ravioli?
 
Last edited:
I use a food processor so the spinach and garlic are chopped extremely fine so the dough is ?homogeneous? And smooth. Otherwise, you get little tiny bits you can feel, which also make the dough prone to breaking. You don't need the KA if you make it in a food processor.

If I didn't use the food processor, wouldn't even attempt ravioli as I doubt it would seal. I would make a test ravioli when making linguine/tagliatelle to check before I made the dough with the intention to make ravioli.
 
I use a food processor so the spinach and garlic are chopped extremely fine so the dough is ?homogeneous? And smooth. Otherwise, you get little tiny bits you can feel, which also make the dough prone to breaking. You don't need the KA if you make it in a food processor.

If I didn't use the food processor, wouldn't even attempt ravioli as I doubt it would seal. I would make a test ravioli when making linguine/tagliatelle to check before I made the dough with the intention to make ravioli.
Yes, I have two food processors and one of them is large enough for this task. I get that the KA isn't a good fit for this task, and this is fine because I can make a smaller amount for a test run and won't have to freeze any. But I will still use the pasta attachment for this, just not the mixer.

I probably won't make ravioli right out the gate (plus I don't have any ricotta or other filling at the moment). Plus I haven't even made ravioli before with a regular pasta recipe...baby steps. I hate wasting ingredients when something doesn't work out, LOL. I have been fortunate with my adventures in cooking in the past, thankfully.

Thanks for all the helpful tips!
 
Back
Top Bottom