Spaghettini with Tomatoes, Lemon, Feta and Pine Nuts

by zesty on June 2, 2009 · 15 comments

This a guest post by Eat Live Travel Write, enjoy!

Eating and drinking were definite priorities on a two-week meander through Tuscany and Umbria in the summer of 2005.  One of our most memorable meals was at “Pane e vino”, a small restaurant in Todi, tucked off the tourist trail in a small alley.  I chose a simple pasta dish that night, infused with lemon and garlic, so utterly delicious in its simplicity that we thought it would be easy to replicate a couple of nights later.  We failed miserably!  On returning home, I wrote to Gourmet magazine to see if they could obtain the recipe for me.

spaghettini

A few months later, I received the recipe as sent to Gourmet by the restaurant in charming, broken and very literally translated English.  Their recipe calls for called fresh taglierini, but I like it best with spaghettini.  The recipe that follows, whilst inspired by the original, is the result of much experimenting.  Enjoy!

Serves 4
Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes

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Ingredients

  • 6 medium-sized fresh tomatoes, diced (or 1 796ml can diced tomatoes)
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • zest (!) and juice of 2 lemons
  • 6 tablespoons pine nuts
  • 200g spaghettini (dry)
  • 150g feta cheese, crumbled
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh basil

Method

  1. Sauté the tomatoes in the oil over medium flame in a shallow pan.  When they begin to soften, add the garlic.
  2. Sauté a further 2-3 minutes, add pepper to taste.  Add the lemon zest, lemon juice and pine nuts and reduce heat to very low flame.
  3. Cook the spaghettini in boiling salted water until al dente (approximately 10 minutes or according to directions on package).  Drain well and add to the tomato sauce mixture.
  4. Combine pasta and sauce.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Just before serving, add the crumbled feta and chopped basil.

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Note:

* I have also added some shrimp (about 20-30 peeled raw shrimp) to this dish with great success – you would add them into the sauce with the tomatoes
* Chopped spinach is an option too (about 2 cups) which would be added with the pasta to the sauce so that it is still slightly crunchy when served.

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Wine suggestion:
With this dish, I would suggest a white wine – a soave or an Orvieto.  If you prefer a red, a Chianti Riserva (older traditional-style)

Visit Eat Live Travel Write to see more of her recipes.

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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Rose June 2, 2009 at 10:07 am

This looks delicious. If only I could eat tomatoes!

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2 Matt (No Meat Athlete) June 2, 2009 at 10:36 am

Sounds great. Lemon juice with tomato pasta dishes is so good!

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3 mlm June 2, 2009 at 10:46 am

Hi this is actually a guest post from me!

You can check out my blog at http://www.eatlivetravelwrite.com

Thanks for featuring it Zesty!

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4 Foodie (Fab and Delicious Food) June 2, 2009 at 10:48 am

Awesome! Thanks for the recipe!

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5 brandi June 2, 2009 at 11:02 am

beautiful pics and the pasta sounds awesome with the lemon addition.

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6 heather June 2, 2009 at 11:09 am

oh that second picture looks like a postcard – too beautiful and serene to be true!

cheers,

*heather*

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7 bobbi June 2, 2009 at 12:04 pm

must check out her site, thanks Zest for sharing!!!

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8 Danica June 2, 2009 at 12:38 pm

Looks delicious and I LOVE the table layout and travel pictures.

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9 Gina June 2, 2009 at 1:53 pm

Such beautiful pictures…I wish I could close my eyes and be there right now! Spaghetti looks great too. thanks for the recipe.

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10 Caroline June 2, 2009 at 1:58 pm

What a refreshing combination! I am loving the pictures too.

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11 Pearl June 2, 2009 at 2:24 pm

looks like delicious spaghettini!

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12 Cat June 3, 2009 at 9:17 am

the recipe sounds great and the photos are beautiful!

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13 Morten Pedersen June 12, 2009 at 10:33 am

I just love the last picture. It is so calm and the view is great and the food……

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14 ronin June 12, 2009 at 1:56 pm

yummy… tomatoes sauce with lemon…

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