Unlike many of my friends, my mom very rarely made spaghetti and meatballs. To this day, I am still not really a fan of regular spaghetti with red sauce and much prefer a pesto, or simple drizzle of olive oil with some garlic and fresh parmesan. I've been making more pasta recently because of the ease and filling nature of such dishes, and when I saw the radishes (which gave me so many fits last year!) I thought about adapting my standby Cacio e pepe to include them in lieu of the dried chickpeas I am so fond of. This is one of those "everything and the kitchen sink" dishes- whatever you've got on hand, toss it in. It ends up being a little strange, but I've found that no matter what ends up in the pasta, it's always super delicious.
Cacio e Pepe e Radish
***Cacio e pepe loosely translates to pasta and pepper. The key to making this taste so good is to use some of the leftover pasta water to make the butter and pepper dominated "sauce." And I promise, it tastes significantly better than it looked!
1 lb spaghetti, cooked al dente
Bunch radishes w/ tops (Source: FFM) **my tops were pretty wilted so I was unable to use them :(
diced carrots
diced red bell pepper
Garlic
S&P
Butter
Fresh parmesan, asiago, or romano cheese
Leftover chicken from Crockpot chicken earlier in the week
Cook up that pasta al dente and reserve about 1 C of the "pasta water." Cut the radishes in half and coarsely chop the tops. Saute radishes,carrots, and red pepper in olive oil for about 5-8 minutes and then toss in the greens for another 5 minutes. Veggies will be browned and somewhat soft at this point. Dump cooked radishes, greens and pasta together into a large bowl. In the same skillet, melt 3 TBL butter over low heat and mix with the "pasta water" and copious amounts of freshly cracked pepper. Toss in your garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Pour over pasta and radishes, toss and add chicken, cheese and salt.
***Cacio e pepe loosely translates to pasta and pepper. The key to making this taste so good is to use some of the leftover pasta water to make the butter and pepper dominated "sauce." And I promise, it tastes significantly better than it looked!
1 lb spaghetti, cooked al dente
Bunch radishes w/ tops (Source: FFM) **my tops were pretty wilted so I was unable to use them :(
diced carrots
diced red bell pepper
Garlic
S&P
Butter
Fresh parmesan, asiago, or romano cheese
Leftover chicken from Crockpot chicken earlier in the week
Cook up that pasta al dente and reserve about 1 C of the "pasta water." Cut the radishes in half and coarsely chop the tops. Saute radishes,carrots, and red pepper in olive oil for about 5-8 minutes and then toss in the greens for another 5 minutes. Veggies will be browned and somewhat soft at this point. Dump cooked radishes, greens and pasta together into a large bowl. In the same skillet, melt 3 TBL butter over low heat and mix with the "pasta water" and copious amounts of freshly cracked pepper. Toss in your garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Pour over pasta and radishes, toss and add chicken, cheese and salt.