Recipe for Greek Pasta
(inspired by the Fountain Cafe in Port Townsend)
INGREDIENTS
- 1 lb dried penne or rigatoni or other sturdy pasta
- 8 oz feta cheese
- 1 tsp grated lemon peel
- 1 pickled lemon, cut into 1/2" chunks (optional)
- 1 large tomatoe or 2 medium tomatoes
- 1 small can of artichoke bottoms (real artichoke bottoms are even better than canned) cut into 1" chunks
- 6 oz black oil cured olives PITTED
- 1 big handful of parsley
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes (more or less)
- some olive oil, to taste
- pepper to taste
Bring 4 or 6 quarts of water to boil and prepare the pasta al dente according to the instructions on the box. There is a lot of variation of cooking times. Most pastas are ready in less than 10 minutes, but Copolla makes some great pastas that take as long as 20 minutes to get al dente.
You can prepare various ingredients while the water comes to a boil and the pasta cooks.
As soon as the pasta is ready, crumble in the feta cheese and toss it so the cheese melts and the pasta doesn't stick together.
Now add the rest of the ingredients. If you don't have any or don't like pickled lemons, just make sure you put in the lemon peel instead. You can use artichoke hearts intead of bottoms if you want. You can use fresh oregano instead of dried. Feel free to experiment with different types of olives. Obviously, you can adjust the quantity of red pepper flakes to your taste.
If the final mix seems a bit dry, add some olive.
Toss it all together and serve.
