Warm Pasta Salad

At long last – an update to the blog. My apologies to readers who were relying upon me for their daily drool session, or maybe even for a weekly dinner menu. Last week, I officially rejoined the work force. I say “rejoined” but that might be a strong word, as my previous work experience includes only my on-campus job (with pretty flexible hours) and my summer job in a medical research lab (with completely unpredictable hours, but which I would generally describe as 24/7). This one is a regular 9-6, 5 days a week. It’s odd, how circadian it feels – getting up, going to work, squeezing in my run, and going to bed to do it all over again. But somewhere in there, I also manage to fit in three meals – indeed, believe it or not, even though I’ve not found the time to write about it, I’m still cooking up wonderful things in our kitchen every night – but now with a renewed commitment to speed & simplicity.

My gift to all of you 9-5(or 6 or 6:15 or whenever-you-get-out-of-there) workers:

Warm Pasta Salad.

This recipe is inspired by two things I was lacking: ingredients, and time. While I’d been slowly whittling away at a head of savoy cabbage for days, it was high time to finish it off. As my focus was speed, I decided to marry the cabbage with pasta – my plan was to have this meal completely finished by the time the pasta was cooked.

The race against the clock began when I dropped two servings worth of curly Chinese noodles into a pot of boiling water – they would need to cook for about ten minutes. It’s possible – have faith. But it’s going to require some quick handwork.

First things first: I sliced a clove of garlic and one medium white onion – I kept everything in fairly large pieces. Keep in mind that you’ll want to be able to easily pick up these pieces on your fork. I roughly chopped the savoy cabbage into bite-sized chunks (about two cups chopped).

Into a skillet with a tablespoon of olive oil, I added the garlic and onion along with 3 teaspoons of capers, fresh parsley (about 2 tablespoons), and a lot of black pepper. I allowed everything to sizzle until my kitchen smelled like the inside of an Italian restaurant (about two minutes).

I then added the cabbage and two teaspoons of water – I stirred in a pinch of salt, and covered the skillet to allow everything to steam for three minutes – I wanted the cabbage to be warm, but still crunchy.

After a shamelessly-large taste test, I concluded that my pasta had reached my desired al dente chew. – So at that point, time was up – KNIVES DOWN! HANDS UP! – I drained the pasta and mixed it directly into the skillet with the cabbage so that none of the yummy, flavorful olive oil would go to waste.

If you’re skeptical about the quality of any meal that can be prepared from start to finish in ten minutes flat, I can’t blame you – I would be, too. But this one certainly didn’t leave me disappointed. tin and I enjoyed the salty capers with the super-fresh and actually kind of juicy cabbage. -- This dish will probably make a repeat appearance in the weeks to come.

The Nitty-Gritty:

Ingredients:

2 servings of pasta (raw, uncooked)

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 small white onion

1 clove of garlic

2 Tbsp. fresh parsley

3 tsp. capers

2 cups savoy cabbage

salt & pepper

Procedure:

1. Cook the pasta in a pot of boiling water to an al dente finish (about 10 minutes).

2. Slice the onion and garlic; add into a deep skillet with olive oil, parsley, capers, and pepper; sauté on medium-high until aromatic (about two minutes).

3. Add cabbage to the skillet along with 2 Tbsp. of water – stir well to combine and cover; steam for 3 minutes.

4. Stir drained pasta directly into the skillet. Serve with salt & pepper to taste.