Google "midnight pasta" and you'll get a thousand different recipes. Some include roasted garlic and red pepper flakes; others are sauced with a mixture of anchovies and capers. Still more focus simply on good-quality olive oil and grated Parmigiano Reggiano.
The tie that seems to bind them is how few ingredients are involved and how quickly they can be pulled together into a delicious dish that will satisfy the pangs of hunger, whether it's late at night, or just late for dinner.
One of the more famous versions of "midnight pasta," and one of my favorites, comes from the late iconic Italian cookbook author Marcella Hazan. She created the dish to slay those late-night pangs that come naturally in a country like Italy, where the main meal of the day is eaten at noon.
Come 8 or 9 p.m. (or midnight), you want a little something, but it has to come together fast and can't require too much effort. Of course, Marcella would have reached for a box of pasta and whatever else she may have in her pantry. In this case, it was golden raisins, garlic and pine nuts, flash-fried in a little olive oil before being tossed in perfectly al dente spaghetti.
My go-to midnight pasta is heavily influenced by Marcella's. I like to add thinly sliced garlic and red pepper flakes to the mix. And I also prefer smaller black currants to golden raisins, but any raisin will work. And, because I can't imagine anything not being better with a showering of freshly grated Parmesan, I toss in a generous handful at the last minute, too. The sauce comes together so quickly that the whole dish is done just moments after you drain the pasta.
Easy and tasty, with contrasting flavors and textures, the result is simplicity at its finest — sure to please at any time of day.
Pasta with Currants, Pine Nuts and Garlic
Serves 4.
Inspired by Marcella Hazan's "midnight pasta," this quick and easy, pantry-friendly recipe, with its contrasting flavors and textures, is sure to please for lunch, dinner or a late-night snack. From Meredith Deeds.
