Whole Grain Trumpets with Tomatoes and Arugula is a light pasta dish; it could be a salad. The dressing or sauce adds a lot of flavor. It is kinda summery, but all the ingredients will be around all year.
The time between summer and fall is a time you need to let go of summer and welcome colder weather. When the internet and stores are full of fall, Halloween, and Thanksgiving is already showing its face, I have difficulties letting go of summer.
The summer here in Georgia was hot, really hot and even a couple of weeks ago we still had 90 degrees. That was a little rough, because my husband and I are fixing up the steps in front of our house. We’re replacing treads, and part of the railing and then painting, sanding, painting. We move slowly, not because we are old and slow, but because the summer temperature was murder. The steps are in front of the house – in full sun. There were days, we didn’t work outside because of it. Can you image, you work 2 minutes, swipe your forehead, dripping from sweat, then work a little, swipe again, Not really a way to go fast.
Despite those high temperature; I already start missing the summer. Don’t get me wrong, I also love the crisp mornings that we have right now, but I still miss the summer. I love comfort food, but I still miss the summer. So this pasta dish, Whole Grain Trumpets with Tomatoes and Arugula is a way to just hang on to summer a tiny little longer.
The ingredients are straight forward: whole grain trumpets, arugula, cherry or grape tomatoes, pine nuts, lemon zest, capers and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. The preparation is fast. You can do 4 things at the same time and after that it is a matter of tossing it together. Cook the pasta, brown the butter, toast the pine nuts, make the dressing/sauce and cut the tomatoes. You can do all this within the same 10 minutes.
Drain the pasta, remove the browned butter from the heat, add the arugula, pasta, pine nut, tomatoes and dressing. Mix and add some pasta water if needed. Transfer to bowl or plate and grate some Parmigiano Reggiano over the dish. Done! It is that easy and it is delicious.
A similar dish that I made a year ago: Cucumber, Tomato and Ham Pasta.
Whole Grain Trumpets with Tomatoes and Arugula
Ingredients
- 4 ounces pasta
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 cups arugula
- 1 cup tomatoes cherry or grape
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
Dressing / sauce
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 lemon zest and juice
- 1 tablespoon capers
- salt and pepper
- Parmigiano Reggiano cheese grated
Instructions
- Bring water with salt to a boil over high heat and add the pasta. Cook according to directions.
- At the same time, place pine nuts on a baking sheet. Place in a cold oven and start heating the oven to 350 degrees F. When the oven reaches the temperature, your pine nuts will be toasted. Please check this, because every oven responds differently.
- Simultaneously, prepare the dressing/sauce by mixing the ingredients and set aside. Wash the tomatoes and cut in half.
- About mid-way through the cooking time of your pasta, place butter in a skillet and melt over medium heat until brown and foamy. Continue to cook until the color turns brown/caramel and you experience an nutty aroma.
- Drain the pasta and reserve some pasta water.
- Remove the skillet from the heat and add the pasta, tomatoes, pine nuts, arugula and dressing/sauce. Toss to mix. Add some pasta water if needed.
- Divide over 2 bowls or plates and sprinkle with grated cheese.
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