Pasta with Carmelized Onion Sauce

Pasta with Carmelized Onion Sauce

From the New Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen

The proportions of ingredients in this recipe are somewhat flexible. You can play with the amounts of onions and greens, and you can substitute other leafy greens (collard, escarole, mustard, etc.) for the arugula or spinach. Other soft pungent cheeses can be substituted for the feta or blue cheese.

½ c olive oil

4 to 6 large onions (however many you have the patience to slice), thinly sliced (abt 6-8 cups)

½ tsp salt

½-1 cup dry white wine

1 medium bunch arugula or spinach, stemmed and minced

1 cup crumbled feta or blue cheese

¾ lb pasta ( a short, shapely variety, like penne or fussili)

1 cup chopped, toasted walnuts

Parmesan cheese

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet or sauté pan. Add onions and sauté over medium heat for about 15 minutes. Add salt, lower heat, and continue to cook for at least another 10 minutes (and up to an hour for really deliciously well-done onions)
2. Add white wine, turn heat back up to medium, and simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes. At this point the sauce can be set aside until you are ready to cook the pasta.
3. Turn the heat back on under the sauce when you are ready to cook the pasta. When the onions are hot, add the chopped greens, stir, and cook for about 5 minutes. Stir in the crumbled cheese, and turn heat to low while cooking pasta.
4. After the cooked pasta is drained, add it to the sauce, and stir briefly in the pan before serving. Sprinkle with walnuts and parmesan, and serve.

COOK’S NOTES: I used the max amount of onions and cooked them for the max amount of time. They were fabulous! I highly recommend using some sort of a mandolin slicer like a V-Slicer if you are going to make the recipe. It speeds up the onion slicing significantly and gives you evenly thin slices. Also light a candle nearby to help quench the tears. I used spinach and blue cheese and loved it. I have not tried any of the other variations yet, but I’m sure they would be tasty as well. The white wine I used was Savignon Blanc. It is a nice dry white wine that I’m told is not too sweet. I have yet to learn the in’s and out’s of wines and their use in cooking. I usually just get what’s recommended to me and this was great. The sauce clumped together when I added the pasta, so I might recommend serving the sauce over individual portions, if you want to try and avoid that. Also, sprinkle the walnuts and parmesan to taste over each portion. They really add to the overall flavor of the dish. We loved it. Very different and delicious!

So, I tried it with the feta and LOVED it. If you're not a complete fan of blue cheese, the feta is fabulous. Van and I both think we liked it more. The taste between the two is very different, but what we liked about both versions is the complete difference from any other pasta dish we usually eat. It awakens an otherwise bored palate. :) hope you try and enjoy soon.