Apparently you can cook pasta in any liquid.
Why not choose a liquid you love?
Pasta is an easy go-to dinner, but you can make it extra fancy with a strange but incredibly good twist. Â Why not boil the pasta in red wine? Â This simple move makes a complex, beautiful pasta.
Seems appropriate for Valentine’s Day, no?
Despite my love of wine, my favorite part about this dish is the sautéed garlic.  It’s rare that I thinly slice it and patiently wait for it to turn golden.  It imparts such a fantastic flavor and I love getting little crunchy bites of it as I eat my pasta.
I did try to lighten it up by mixing the red wine-soaked noodles with zucchini noodles. Â It gives some diversity to the texture, too. Â I think I’m slowly wearing Vegas down… she didn’t complain about the veggies in her carbs!
I topped it with my Grilled Mediterranean Chicken. Â You could eat it plain, or top it with your favorite protein.
Quick shouts out for two of my favorite kitchen tools:
- Handheld Spiralizer – I had a big one.  I never used it.  Being able to pull this little handheld one out of a drawer and noodle up a zucchini in less than one minute means that I’ll actually DO it.
- Herb Mill – Â I have terrible knife skills. Â There’s nothing I find more annoying than trying to verrrrry finely cut herbs. Â This mill does it for you with a twist.
Best served on a patio with a glass of wine while watching the sunset.
[Tweet “Pasta. Cooked in red #wine. You have to try this! #fitfluential”]
Red Wine Pasta with Almonds &Â Parsley
- 3 CÂ dry red wine
- 2 C water
- Pinch of salt
- 3/4 pound spaghetti
- 2 TÂ extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
- 1 zucchini, spiralized
- 1/2 CÂ finely chopped parsley
- 1/4 C slivered almonds, toastedÂ
- 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
- Cherry tomatoes
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Grilled Mediterranean Chicken
In a saucepan, combine the wine and water with a generous pinch of salt and bring to a boil.  Add the spaghetti and cook, stirring, until al dente.  Drain the pasta, reserving 1/4 C of the cooking liquid.
In a skillet, heat the olive oil.  Add the garlic and red pepper.  Cook over low-medium heat for 2-3 mins, until garlic begins to brown.  Add the reserved 1/4 C of the reserved cooking liquid and bring to a simmer. Â
Stir in the pasta.  Add the zucchini, parsley, nuts, and cheese and toss.  Season the pasta with freshly ground pepper and top with tomatoes, grilled chicken, and additional grated cheese.
Makes 4-6 servings.
How have you enjoyed making co-workers, friends, or family stare with strange but good creations this week? The link up rules can be found here or by clicking on “Strange But Good” in the menu bar above. In short, I want to see what concoctions have earned you weird looks from co-workers, family and friends! Post your Strange But Good creations, grab the logo below for your blog, and link up here.
Remember to use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instagrams of your creations. 🙂
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Check out my Red Velvet Pinterest board for more Valentine’s Day ideas!
Are you a red wine fan? Vegas and I are junkies.
What are your plans for Valentine’s Day?
HOLY CRAP YOU ARE A GENIUS!
i love adding red wine (but usually just do red wine vinegar- hah) to my pasta sauce, but i would LOVE Tto try cooking the pasta in it!! and you used sauteed garlic– i’m making this for my dad as soon as i got home no joke okay i’ll stop obsessing over it now byethanks.
wait- it’s his birthday this weekend and he’s visiting. ima try and make this and send it home with him 😀
You’re a good kid! 😉 I’d love to hear what you thought if you were able to try it out!
I love how you aren’t afraid to get creative with food like myself. Have you ever tried cooking quinoa pasta in veggie broth? It’s insane with tomatoes! I have never tried wine, but am intrigued now. 🙂 Happy V-Day!:)
I have! My mom actually taught me that one. Broth makes all the things better. 🙂
The great thing about cooking with wine is that you can swig from the bottle as you cook! Genius idea!
You know it! 😉
Wine and zoodles? Now that is genius!
Now this is a Valentine’s Day dinner I can work with! And garlic? The more the better…although I’m not sure how well that will work later on… Oh well 🙂
It’s totally fine if you both eat it!
I’ve heard good things about this method, and I’ve made red wine sauces before (note to self, do that for the blog…). My problem? I would drink it all 😀
Heck yea! Cook pasta or any grain in everything!! Cooking with wine is so fun and so much flavor!
Especially when you get to drink some too. 😉
This sounds so tasty! But then again what doesn’t go well with some wine:)
I’ve never thought to cook anything in red wine! I’ve only ever used it in recipes. Great idea!
well now I need an herb mill!
Yeah, you do! 🙂
This looks amazing!
YOU WOULD make drunken spaghetti!
you had me at wine. But now i think i need that spiralizer too. i have the big one but you like the small one?
Definitely like the smaller one. It’s so easy to use… therefore I actually use it.
HHow creative!
Thank you! 🙂
Like the twist on that! Have a great weekend
I always mix zucchini noodles into my regular noodles. I’m a volume eater! This sounds delicious!
Me too. More is more!
So, so, so trying this! What a genius idea. (It looks so sunny and green where you are!)
I’m so with you on the sautéed garlic and I think the slivered almonds were a stroke of genius and that’s not even counting the pasta cooked in wine. C’est magnificent.
Why, thank you. I’d blush if I did that sort of thing.
I have never thought about cooking pasta in wine, but now I am very intrigued.
Ooh la la, I love pasta! And zoodles! And red wine (obviously)! I also a big fan of my handheld spiralizer, and I feel like I’d love an herb mill too. I should get one ASAP!
it’s one of those things I never knew existed but now that I have it, I can’t live without it!
Brilliant!! Gives so much more meaning to “have your wine and eat it too.”
Or is that cake.
Well done!
Hahaha! I need that printed on a t-shirt.