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Pasta With Garlicky Spinach and Buttered Pistachios
![Pasta With Garlicky Spinach and Buttered Pistachios](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/04/18/dining/15Pasta-Garlicy-Greens-a/merlin_171317172_21b69335-b095-419e-bd54-302ddf6fa0dc-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 25 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 12ounces mezze rigatoni or other short pasta
- 4tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½cup roasted salted pistachios, almonds or hazelnuts, chopped
- 4garlic cloves, chopped
- 2tablespoons capers, drained
- 12ounces spinach, stems trimmed to 1-inch length, or Swiss chard, trimmed and chopped
- Grated Parmesan, for serving
Preparation
- Step 1
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to package instructions until al dente.
- Step 2
After pasta has been cooking for about 2 minutes, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pistachios, garlic and capers and cook, stirring to keep the garlic from scorching, until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Step 3
Add spinach to skillet one handful at a time, season with salt and cook, tossing, until wilted, about 1 or 2 minutes.
- Step 4
Using a slotted spoon, transfer pasta to the skillet along with ½ cup pasta water. Season with salt and pepper and cook over medium-high, tossing, until liquid reduces and coats the pasta, 2 to 3 minutes; season with salt and pepper. Serve topped with Parmesan.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
actually Julie, someone sent me a giant bag of pistachios for Christmas and I still have a lot left....I have to shell them, but they are a godsend!!! the gift that keeps on giving!!!
Seriously, in these troubled times, who has pistachios hanging around? Chopped some raw almonds and sauteed them in the butter with a little olive oil. Took them out, did the rest of the saute and added them in at the end. Added red pepper flakes because they are always good. Quick, the saucy spinach was done before the pasta. Very versatile, use what you have on hand. Little sliced onion, little sliced cabbage, anything. Capers and garlic are key.
They have pistachios at Costco , you can get it delivered in 2 days. It is easier to find pistachios than toilet paper or flour
Love it that sauce timing and pasta timing are equals - makes it a race to the finish. Added a few stout shakes of chipotle pepper during the butter phase for sparkle, used dandelion greens because the garden is full of them, and at the end was inspired to throw in a spoonful of plain Greek yoghurt and a handful of chopped queso fresco. These dissolved into a lush cloak for the whole. Put browned nuts atop a masterpiece. Bowls were licked clean.
...and I just saw Jimmy Kimmel purées cannelli beans and adds them to pasta hiding the beneficial protein from his two young kids and adds some creaminess. Tricky.
It’s a dark day if we run out of pistachios
Add a can of chickpeas once the spinach has wilted and you have a good source of protein. We like grated Asiago on this but any sharp cheese will do.
I've made this recipe twice and my husband and I love it. I added red pepper flakes both times. I made an important adjustment the second time, adding the pasta and pasta water after cooking the garlic, nuts and capers, but before adding the spinach. The pasta gets fully coated with the sauce and the spinach does not wilt down to nothing. I also added a few extra pinches of sea salt. Delicious!
Added idea: I dry-roasted the nuts (a combo of pistachios and hazelnuts) in the oven for about 12 min and then chopped them up before throwing them into the butter. This added a really lovely toasty layer to the dish.
I found this recipe because I have pistachios in the pantry that I want to use.
I loved this recipe. Always have these ingredients in my pantry. I divided the recipe in half and found it plenty for 3 people. I served an Italian sausage that I grilled on the side. A complete meal
If you salted your pasta well, think about your ingredients before adding the salt to the spinach. I skipped it, and it was plenty salty. Next time I might try a splash of white wine before the pasta water.
This was wonderful, and so easy. Only change I made was to substitute 1 T. olive oil and 2 T. butter for the 4 T. butter, and I sauteed the nuts, garlic, and capers, along with a pinch of red pepper flakes, until the garlic was golden before adding the spinach. I used slivered almonds because that's what I had. A keeper.
I made this because I happened to have all the ingredients on hand. It was easy and fast and absolutely delicious! What could be bad with butter, garlic and pistachios? Next time I will try it with different nuts and possibly a different green.( I'm thinking arugula and toasted almonds). This recipe is really just a starting point for a creative use of whatever you have left in the refrigerator. And Julie: I had a bag of pistachios lying around since last summer. Gone now.
I always keep a variety of nuts in the pantry to spice things up with added protien, love this! I will say, for a recipe like this I do enjoy chopping my greens in the food processor and tossing with pasta so they make a sort of light pesto and they won't clump together like leaves sometimes do. Thank you!
Careful with the salt. If you follow the recipe, you'll end up with saltiness coming from 5 or 6 different sources. I definitely overdid it, and paid the price – tho the dish has potential.
I subbed anchovy for capers and added a bit more butter at the end! Delicious
A delightful and easy dinner. This recipe (as written) has made it into our rotation.
You could sub chopped olives for capers in a pinch. I added Italian sausage. Some lemon zest would add a lot.
My family loved this! And they are pretty picky. They also usually protest when I make a dish with capers, but they didn't seem to notice the briny orbs. I didn't have any of the suggested nuts on hand, subbed cashews. Added some edamame for extra protein.
Good, but wish I had added some pepper flakes when adding the garlic.
Added 1/3 cup of white wine while cooking the garlic, capers, etc. Was a nice touch.
First time, I used mostly kale because I was short on spinach. Second go, I used only spinach. Both were tasty, but my partner and I both preferred the mostly kale version. Great recipe for a lighter dinner and worked well for leftovers the following day.
Delicious. We added fresh lemon juice and doubled the garlic. We didn't have spinach so added some sauteed chopped zucchini and mushrooms.
Disappointing. Kind of a waste of good pistachios. They get lost in all the other stuff. I would use them in a simpler butter garlic lemon sauce and cook the greens separately.
Very tasty! I pan toasted cooked garbanzos with a little olive oil, salt and cumin and used as a side dish.
I had a 6 oz bag of spinach whose best by date was today, so I tried this recipe! Cutting it in half for 2. Otherwise, I followed it exactly. For me, this is a miss because the spinach sits separately from the pasta, and pasta should combine with a sauce. I might adapt this by blending the ingredients into a sauce in the future, but otherwise won’t make this again.
Made with spinach ricotta ravioli and toasted hazelnuts and threw in some rotisserie chicken we needed to use up. Really appreciated the suggestions to coat the pasta in sauce first and and spinach at the end so it didn’t disappear. Quick and approaching elegant
I honestly didn't think that this was anything special...I .really didn't augment the recipe besides using radiiatore pasta. It was really bland when i finsihed cooking, so I added pesto, sausage, and Mamma Lil's pickled Peppers. I would probably add more pistachios and spinach if I made it again since it cooks down so much.
Didn’t have capers so I used chopped green olives instead and it was delicious
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