I saw a recipe for this a few months ago while scrolling Instagram and was intrigued. Pasta is like manna to me, and I’m always looking for new and interesting preparations.
I tweaked the original a bit, and the results were astonishingly good for such a simple dish. When I described the plan to my husband, he was quite skeptical, but he went along and, in the end, he loved the dish.
I used a high-quality dry pasta for this and cooked it very al dente — the crisp “bite” in the center of the noodle added to the toothsome interest of the dish.
Cooking the spaghetti in red wine was a unique approach — it changed the color of the noodle and added to the flavor. And the fact that dinner was ready in about 10 minutes was a dream for the cook.
Spaghetti Cooked in Red Wine
Serves 2
Any long, ribbon-like pasta would work here — linguine, capellini, etc.
1½ cups leftover red wine
6 cups water
½ pound spaghetti or other long pasta
¼ cup pine nuts
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
Pinch of salt
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
Scant handful of fresh parsley, chopped
⅓ cup Parmesan cheese
In a dry skillet, toast the pine nuts over medium heat. Watch them carefully, and stir them so they toast evenly; when they are fragrant and starting to brown, remove them from the heat, and set them aside.
Heat the wine, water and a generous pinch of salt to a boil, and cook the noodles to al dente (1 minute less than the box recommends).
While the pasta cooks, heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a skillet with the salt, garlic and red pepper on medium heat. Do not brown the garlic; just let it cook until soft.
Reserve ¼ cup of the pasta cooking liquid, and drain the pasta.
Pour the cooked pasta into the skillet with the reserved liquid, and stir well. Add the pine nuts, parsley and cheese. Stir to blend, and serve immediately.
