Bowtie Pasta with White Beans, Roasted Peppers and Garlic Spinach

3 red, yellow, or orange bell peppers
12 oz. bowtie or penne pasta
1 T olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
15 oz. can white beans, rinsed and drained
Salt and pepper to taste
9 oz. baby spinach, tails removed
1 T balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese and some more shaved with veg. peeler

Preheat broiler. Line a baking sheet with foil. Halve bell peppers, then core and seed. Press peppers flat, skin-side up, onto prepared pan. Broil 10 minutes, until skins are blackened (I think it took me less time than that). Transfer to a bowl and cover with foil (use the same foil that lined the pan). Let stand 20 minutes. Peel and discard charred skin from peppers. (NOTE: Do NOT run under cold water to remove the skins. This will wash away the charred taste that you want. Paper towels can help remove the skin.) Thinly slice peppers.

Cook pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1 cup cooking water; drain pasta.

Warm oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Add garlic; cook 1 minute, stirring often. Add bell peppers, beans, salt and pepper and cook 3 minutes, stirring often. Add pasta cooking water and about 1/4 of the spinach; bring to a simmer. Let cook 10 minutes, (I don't think it took me that long to get the spinach where I wanted it),slowly adding remaining spinach, stirring often and smashing beans against the side of the pan to create a sauce. Leave some beans whole. Remove from heat; stir in vinegar. (I used a bit more than called for.)

In a large serving bowl, toss pasta with sauce and Paramesan. Season with salt and pepper.


Kevin being out of town and Emma and Benjamin needing an outing this Sunday day-into-evening, Emma and I fixed this for dinner along with some crusty bread and Irish butter. Emma thought I should post it on this blog; I would give it a solid B, but it has excellent qualities that should not be overlooked: I had all of this stuff on hand, it was vegetarian for Emma, it's pretty cheap and it was pretty good.

I thought it needed a little help, so after I dished it into pasta bowls, I drizzled each bowl with several drops of a really good balsamic. (I'm getting Emma some, and if you want some, too, just let me know. The stuff I like is $50 a bottle, BUT it is very good-tasting and you don't cook with it, you drizzle drops on pasta or salad or use it for your olive oil-balsamic dipping sauce for your good crusty bread.

I told Emma that next time I would take some of those pine nuts from Costco that have been in my freezer for a LONG time, toast them in a pan on the stovetop, and put some on top of each serving. I think that would be a very good addition, but not absolutely necessary.

Fast, easy, cheap (when the red peppers go on sale) and VERY nutritious. A good standby. I don't think the leftovers will heat up very well, but I'm thinking to add a smidgen of olive oil and maybe a little more of the supermarket balsamic before it goes in the microwave. But the bottom line is, some things really don't warm up too well. We'll see.

Dad didn't complain about no meat. Maybe he thought it, but he didn't say it. And remember, beans have ANTI-TUMOR properties, a very good thing indeed.