Herbs, Garlic and Spinach Whole Wheat Pasta

Herbs, garlic and spinach whole wheat pasta is a quick and healthy dish you can enjoy everyday!

This is a dish that me and the hubby ate in Imperia, Italy for the first time.

We weren’t married yet. We went to see a concert and a friend introduced us to a couple, Sergio and Rosellina, with 3 kids.

We met this family a few times and then they invited us for dinner.

They had moved, at that time, to a house near Imperia, but they had spent the previous last 20 years living in a simple wooden house, built by themselves, in the woods in the Ligurian Alps, 1 hour far from the nearest village – reachable by foot only, as there were no roads to their house!

In the house in the woods, where they lived with a couple of other families, they home-schooled their kids (when we met them the kids were 18, 16 and 13 years old), and lived absolutely with no superfluous stuff.

I remember we were fascinated by their experience.

Their new house too had been built by them out of pallets.

It was very simple and neat, the clothes were essential, not so many and well folded on top of a shelf. Everything was clean, nice and unique. Both had great craftsmanship skills. We loved it.

They cooked the herbs, garlic and spinach whole wheat pasta with the vegetables coming straight from their garden…and we found it delicious.

We lost track of our friends in the years, but every time I cook this pasta they come to my mind.

This dish is a bit like them: simple and adventurous at the same time.

Ingredients for Herbs, Garlic and Spinach Whole Wheat Pasta

• 500 gr whole wheat Pasta
• 4 garlic cloves
• one sprig of rosemary
• 8 sage leaves
• 200 gr fresh spinach or chards (I used a mix of the two last time)
• 50 gr pinenuts
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt

How to Make Herbs, Garlic and Spinach Whole Wheat Pasta

Wash sage.

Wash the rosemary and remove leaves from the sprig.

Place sage and rosemary on a chopping board and chop them until they are really fine, like sand.

Set aside.

Wash the spinach or chards.

Bring abundant water to the boil, salt it and place the vegetables in.

Let them cook for 5 minutes and then take them out of the water.

Chop the cooked vegetables very finely, practically mince them:

Roast quickly the pinenuts in a little pan, without oil.

Cook the pasta in the same water where the vegetables cooked.

Heat some olive oil in a frying pan and squeeze in the garlic.

Add the pinenuts.

Add the finely chopped herbs and stir for 1 or 2 minutes.

Drain the pasta al dente and add it to the pan.

Stir well until all the pasta will be coated with the tiny pieces of herbs and garlic paste.

Add the vegetables to the pasta and stir well.

Enjoy!