Creamy Garlic Pasta With Greens
In this 20-minute weeknight pasta, one of the tastiest, most versatile sauces, aioli (or garlic mayonnaise) is dolloped over a simple bowl of spaghetti tossed with wilted greens. With hardly any cooking and minimal knifework, this one-pot dish starts out by simply cooking the pasta. Meanwhile, a quick aioli is whipped up by stirring garlic, lemon and a little olive oil into store-bought mayonnaise. You’ll generously spoon that shortcut aioli over the pasta, coating each noodle with its rich and fresh garlicky bite. (Leftover aioli can be saved for later use throughout the week.) Serve this pasta with sausages and peppers or a rotisserie chicken.
- Preparation:
- Cooking:
- Total:
- Serves: 4 persons
Ingredients
- 1pound spaghetti
- Salt and black pepper
- ¾cup mayonnaise
- 1lemon
- 3large cloves garlic
- 2tablespoons olive oil
- 8to 10 ounces baby or pre-cut cooking greens (such as kale, chard, spinach or collard greens)
- Crushed red pepper, optional
Instructions
Step 1
Cook pasta according to package instructions in a Dutch oven or large pot of salted boiling water until al dente. Reserve 1 cup pasta water and drain pasta.Step 2
While the pasta is cooking, make the aioli: Add the mayonnaise to a bowl. Finely grate the lemon zest over, then cut the lemon in half and juice half of the lemon into the bowl. (Reserve the remaining lemon half for another use.) Finely grate the garlic into the bowl, add the olive oil and whisk together until smooth.Step 3
After the pasta has been drained but is still hot, add the greens to the same pot and pour ½ cup pasta water over, toss with tongs to lightly wilt greens. Add the pasta and season with salt, black pepper and crushed red pepper, if using. Toss again and add the remaining ½ cup reserved pasta water, if you’d like, to create a light sauce.Step 4
Transfer to serving bowls or plates. Serve warm with a generous dollop of the aioli spooned over the pasta. Add more black pepper, if desired. Swirl the pasta and greens into the aioli to coat each bite as you eat.