In digging through my draft posts, the ones that never quite saw the light of the blogosphere, I came across this one … sharing an easy pasta recipe with sautéed spinach on the side. I have mentioned before that my husband is the primary cook in this house; not that I don’t know how or am not willing, but for him it is a hobby and an art, and I willingly enjoy the products of his creativity. Often when I cook, it is because my husband and boys are gone for the evening or weekend, and I go looking for something quick to put together, so I can pour a glass of wine and hunker down with a good chick flick!
On one of these occasions when I found myself on the cooking rather than eating side of the food equation, and felt my blog had been sparse on the food posts, I tried to keep the mayhem (and cat hair) in the kitchen at a minimum as I cooked, with an occasional photo along the way.
Four ingredients: whole wheat pasta, broccoli, brie and pine nuts. Really can’t get much simpler than that.
The challenge is to not eat the brie while chopping it into cubes as the pasta boils!
Actually, the real challenge is not getting distracted while the pine nuts are toasting in the skillet. As usual, I multi-tasked one too many things, and soon the smell of burnt pine nuts was filling the house …. but it was not a loss, and I took one for the team, filling a bowl with a healthy portion.
And for an additional dose of green leafy vegetables, and another of my favorite quick and easy sides, I couldn’t screw up the Barefoot Contessa’s Garlic Sautéed Spinach (my kind of recipe — advertised prep time: 6 minutes, cook time: 4 minutes!).
A good olive oil, generous portion of garlic cloves, and fresh spinach leaves mix together for a wonderful wilted dish. It stands alone or would be tasty mixed in with pasta for another pasta with greens option.
For the Garlic Sautéed Spinach recipe, click here.
For the Creamy Rigatoni with Broccoli and Brie recipe, click here.
Ciao! ~ Kat
Travel. Garden. Eat. 
10 responses to “Sorry, I Burned the Pine Nuts”
Fun post, Kat! These recipes look so good. I have to try the rigatoni.
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Just came upon this older post and had to say that I burn nuts almost every time! I say to myself “Set a timer! Pay attention to the pine nuts/slivered almonds/etc” but every single time I start doing something else and then .. sniff sniff … the nuts are burnt! And I’m not so flexible about eating them that way!
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It is so easy to get distracted! And it only takes a minute to go from browned to burnt! Thanks for stopping by, lex!
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Definitely my kind of simple meal, Kat:) love the combination of Brie and buttery pine nuts!
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You will not believe this but I am sitting here right this minute eating burned pine nuts. I usually turn them dark brown but THIS was an accident. I like em though. I put them on everything and now you have given me some new ideas ! If I had your number I would text you the pic and you would laugh !
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That is too funny! Pine nuts and garlic can make anything better — even when extra toasty!
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Yummy!
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This looks really good – burned pine nuts and all. I think of myself as a good cook, but my family has had more than their fair share of burnt food. Most recently – grilled cheese sandwiches. Oh, and toast. I’m very good at burning toast. 🙂
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Grilled cheese is tough, though! That delicate balance between grilled enough to get the perfect gooey cheese consistency and not crossing the line to burned!
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If I would just remember the second side doesn’t take as long as the first!
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