Pasta All'Ubriaco!

It sounds kind of fancy, but directly translated it means Drunken Spaghetti, and it's lovely. I came across the recipe on the food blog, Serious Eats, posted by Gina DePalma, who does their weekly Serious Italian posting, and it sounded so unusual and so good that I couldn't resist. The whole idea is that you cook the pasta in equal parts red wine and water, so the pasta itself takes on the wine flavor. Then you toss it with a little olive oil, sauteed garlic, butter and parsley and you've got yourself a whole new kind of comfort food. Couldn't be easier!

One thing to keep in mind though - you really do taste the wine, even if the alcohol is cooked off (for the most part), so choose a wine that you like. It definitely needs to be drinkable, although I wouldn't break the bank on it. I used a nice $5 bottle of Argentinian Merlot, but any fuller-bodied red will do - just make sure you like the taste in the glass before you taste it in the dish!

Ingredients:

-2 quarts of water

-2 quarts of inexpensive (but yummy and drinkable) red wine, plus 1/2 cup for the pan  - about 1 & 1/3 bottle

-1 lb. thick spaghetti or linguini (you could also use rigatoni or penne etc.)

-2 fat cloves of garlic, or four small cloves, sliced

-2 tbs. butter, salted or unsalted

-1/2 extra virgin olive oil (this was a bit much for me - next time, I'll probably go with 1/4-1/3 cup)

-dried red pepper chili flakes to taste (optional)

- pepper to taste

-1/4 cup chopped, flat-leaf italian parsley (or 4 tbs. dried)

Process:

1. Put the water and the red wine (reserving 1/2 cup) into a 6 quart stock pot and bring to a boil over med-high heat. Generously season the water with salt.

2. While the wine and water are coming to a boil, peel and slice the garlic, and put the butter and olive oil in a saute pan over low heat and cover to slowly melt the butter.

3. When the water and wine come to a boil, add your pasta, stirring often to engulf all of it in the liquid. Continue to stir often to prevent sticking - there will be considerably less cooking liquid than usual, especially as it absorbs (think risotto almost).

4. Add the garlic to the pan with the butter and olive oil and saute until it sizzles - keep the heat low so as not to scorch it. Add the red pepper flakes and black pepper to taste.

5.When the garlic is sizzling but pale, add the reserved 1/2 cup red wine and a generous splash of the pasta cooking water. Turn up the heat until the liquid simmers.

7. Test the pasta for doneness. When it's al dente, drain it and transfer it back to the pot. Pour the saute over the pasta and stir over low / med-low heat. 

8. Add the parsley and continue to gently stir over low / med-low heat until liquid is absorbed.

9. Serve immediately. It's delicious alone, but also very nice with a little parmesan.

Notes:

- a quick warning: if you use spaghetti, it will look a little like purple-ish earthworms when it's cooked. This didn't bother me as I was too busy snarfing it up, but if the idea is less than appealing, definitely use what James calls "fun shapes".

- You can easily cut the proportions down. Just make sure to do an equal part wine to water. For example, for a single 4 ounce portion of pasta, use 2 cups water to 2 cups wine.

- I *love* this stuff. It's not terribly healthy, but it's buttery and tangy and comforting all at once - the adult version of the noodles and butter than I loved as a kid. This recipe is so easy and so unusual, it'll do the trick for a quick week-night meal or for cool, funky company. It's great. I love it. Try it. Yum.