The Minimalist Cooks Dinner Read Online Free PDF

(unlikely), add a little reserved cooking water. Add plenty of black pepper and some more cheese and serve.
    Pasta all’Amatriciana: Step 1 is the same. Remove the pancetta with a slotted spoon and, in the juices left behind, sauté a sliced, medium onion over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until well softened, about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool a bit. Stir in 2 cups chopped tomatoes (canned are fine; drain them first) and turn the heat back to medium. Cook the sauce, stirring occasionally, while you cook the pasta. When the pasta is done, drain it and toss it with the tomato sauce, the reserved pancetta, and at least ½ cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.
     

Pasta with
Anchovies and
Arugula
    TIME: 30 minutes
    MAKES: 3 main-course to 6 first-course servings
    A quick way to add great flavor to many simple dinner dishes is already sitting in your pantry or cupboard: It’s a can of anchovies. Anchovies are among the original convenience foods and contribute an intense shot of complex brininess that is more like Parmigiano-Reggiano than like canned tuna. Use them, along with garlic, as the base for a bold tomato sauce, or combine them, as I do here, with greens, garlic, oil, and chiles for a white sauce that packs a punch.
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 large garlic cloves, peeled and slivered
8 anchovy fillets, or more to taste, with some of their oil
2 cups trimmed arugula, washed, dried, and chopped
Salt
1 pound linguine or other long pasta
Freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon or more crushed red pepper flakes
Begin heating water for the pasta. Put 2 tablespoons of the oil into a deep skillet, turn the heat to medium, and heat for a minute. Add the garlic and anchovies. When the garlic sizzles and the anchovies break up, turn the heat to the minimum.
Salt the boiling pasta water and cook the pasta until it is tender but not mushy. Reserve 1 cup of the cooking liquid and drain. Add the pasta and the arugula to the skillet, along with enough of the reserved cooking water to make a sauce; turn the heat to medium and stir for a minute. Add salt and pepper to taste, plus a pinch or more of the red pepper flakes.
Turn into a bowl, toss with the remaining 2 tablespoons oil, and serve.
WINE
White and very crisp, like Muscadet or Pinot Grigio; inexpensive Chardonnay would also be good
SERVE WITH
Roasted Peppers; 60-Minute Bread or good store-bought bread
    Keys To SUCCESS
    ANCHOVIES come in three forms: canned, paste, and salted. Canned are most familiar, and they are a nearly ideal convenience food. It’s worth pointing out that you want to buy those packed in olive oil, never soy or cottonseed oil; the ingredients should read “anchovies, olive oil, salt”—no more. Anchovy paste is marginally more convenient. But it’s more than twice as expensive by weight as canned anchovies and it often contains cream, butter, preservatives, and other unnecessary ingredients. Salted anchovies, which are sold in bulk in Italian markets from a large can or bucket, are delicious, but a hassle: Before using them, you must rinse them and peel each fillet off the skeleton.
    With MINIMAL Effort
    Greens with Anchovies, Pine Nuts, and Raisins: To make this into a nonpasta vegetable dish, follow step 1 as described, then stir in ½ cup each of raisins and pine nuts. Cook for a minute, then add 4 cups of any washed and chopped bitter greens—spinach, arugula, or kale, for example—with about ½ cup water. Cover and cook until the greens are tender, from 5 minutes for spinach or arugula to as long as 20 for kale. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
     

Pasta with
Cauliflower
    TIME: 40 minutes
    MAKES: 3 main-course to 6 first-course servings
    Pasta with stewed vegetables—I most often choose cauliflower, but there are many other options—is the one-pot meal I turn to most often when I’m desperate to get something quick, healthy, and filling on the table. It begins