spaghetti, oil, spring garlic, peperoncino, garlic mustard

We had been to the theater, a stunning performance of Sam Shepard’s ‘Curse of the Starving Class’, and, both stimulated and disturbed, we’d decided to head for the comfort of our home table rather than eat out (food, and eating both feature large in the play).

We didn’t arrive home until about 10:30. Dinner would have to be assembled quickly, but I wanted it to be very satisfying, so it was ‘two bachelors pasta’ to the rescue (my appellation, my improvisation, with a nod to any number of variations on ‘spaghettata di mezzanotte‘).

I put water in the pot and set it above a high flame as soon as we got into the apartment; the rest of the cooking operation was almost as easy.

  • eight or nine ounces of a one kilogram package of Setaro Neapolitan spaghetti from Buon Italia in the Chelsea Market, cooked al dente, drained, some of the water reserved, mixed into one of the simplest sauces possible: 3 thinly sliced green, or spring garlic bulbs, the white sections only, from John D. Madura Farms and a bit of crushed dried Calabresi peperoncino secchia, also from Buon Italia, heated together inside a large antique copper pot until the garlic had softened, (basically, seconds), seasoned with sea salt, almost a full cup of the reserved pasta water added and the mix stirred over high heat for a couple of minutes, or until the liquid had emulsified, some garlic mustard (not garlic, but it is a mustard) flowers and leaves, from Norwich Meadows Farm, stirred in, more of the herb later tossed on top of the pasta, which was served with olive oil drizzled around the edges