Pecan Spinach Pasta

| Vegan Cuisine

Ingredients

• 500 grams pasta (ideally penne)
• 3 generous tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 large garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 onion, sliced (ideally, a red onion)
• 3/4 cup pecan halves
• 1 pack of frozen spinach, or, better, a moderate amount of fresh spinach. If frozen spinach is used, consider steaming it quickly before using it in this recipe.
• Crushed red pepper flakes to taste
• Salt to taste
• Optional: feta or feta substitute

Procedure

1. Boil the pasta. Bring a pan of water to a boil and once it has a good rolling boil, put in the pasta. Start checking it about 2 minutes before the amount of time specified on the package by tasting a piece. A commonly held ideal for pasta is that it should be "al dente", which means a tiny, tiny bit undercooked, rather than soft and mushy; it does not mean raw. Drain the pasta once it's done.)
2. Simultaneously, make the sauce.
3. In a cold skillet, combine the olive oil, red pepper flakes, and garlic. Put them on medium heat.
4. After a brief amount of time, add the onion slices.
5. Once the onion is slightly browned, add the pecan halves and sauté them for two minutes.
6. Add the spinach.
7. Once the spinach is done, add salt.
8. The original recipe contained 1 cup of feta. I've never tried it that way, but if you're adventurous, you could consider adding a feta substitute; if you do, mix it in at the end.
9. Put the sauce on the drained pasta and serve.

This recipe can be a stand-alone meal; it's also good cold as a leftover. It sometimes turns out a bit dry.