I use wine quite often in cooking, as well as other alcoholic beverages, but this recipe for “Drunken Pasta” takes that practice to the max!

DINNER DRINKS

by Elizabeth Baer

When I was studying linguistics in college and in graduate school, in the study syntax, we would often analyze the sentence structure of ambiguous sentences as a way to understand how language systems and the organization of words, phrases, and clauses can affect meaning.

One favorite example was “Time flies.” There’s the obvious meaning of the adage, and then there’s the imperative statement to which one might reply, “I can’t; my stopwatch is broken.” Another illustration of ambiguity was, “I saw the man with a telescope.” Did I use a telescope, or did the man have one?

So when I was thinking about the recipe for this column, I chuckled as I thought of the potential ambiguity of “Dinner Drinks” – though admittedly a bit of a stretch. You see, this recipe has the pasta cook in and absorb, metaphorically drink, wine!

When I first encountered a version of this recipe ages ago, the instructions I found said to use a lot of wine mixed with some water, and then, as is typical, to drain the pasta. I cringed at pouring all that wine down the drain, and the first time I made it, I used less wine and more water. As one might expect, the flavor was a bit weak. I made it again using more wine relative to the water, but it was not something I made often because I just couldn’t find my way to pour out so much wine.

More recently I’ve been seeing recipes that cook spaghetti or linguini in a large sauté pan, with just enough liquid so that once it has all absorbed the pasta is perfectly al dente. I decided it was worth a try to do this with wine. I still combined the wine with another liquid, either chicken stock or, for a vegetarian version, water, but at least I don’t feel like I’m wasting the wine.

It can be a bit tricky as different brands of pasta absorb liquid differently, but it works fine to taste as the cooking time is getting close to the end and to add a bit more water so it can cook for a few more minutes, if needed.

With this recipe, you can serve dinner drinks after your dinner drinks!

DRUNKEN PASTA

Serves 6-8 depending on whether as a main or a side

INGREDIENTS:

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 ounces pancetta or guanciale, chopped (optional, omit for vegetarian)
⅓ cup chopped onion
⅛ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 clove garlic, minced or through a garlic press
2 cups dry red wine, such as chianti or cabernet
2 cups water
1 pound spaghetti or linguini
½ cup walnuts, chopped, toasted if desired
½ cup ricotta
Grated Parmesan cheese for serving

DIRECTIONS:

Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the pancetta (if using), onion, salt, and red pepper flakes (if using). Sauté for 5-7 minutes until onions are soft and beginning to brown on the edges. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.

Add the wine and the water, increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Add the pasta to the sauté pan as flat as possible. If it doesn’t all get below the surface of the liquid right away, you can push it down as the pasta strands soften.

Moderate the heat as necessary to maintain a high simmer and cook for 12-14 minutes, gently moving the pasta around from time to time. As the cooking time gets close to the end, taste a piece of pasta, and if it is still too hard in the center add another ½ cup of water. The pasta should still look somewhat wet and there should still be a little bit of liquid in the pan when the pasta is cooked. Add the walnuts and ricotta, and mix gently to distribute the ricotta throughout the pasta.

Remove from the heat and serve with grated Parmesan.

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