Tripolini alle Dieci Erbe (Tiny Pasta with 10 Herbs)

Whenever couples go out on a date, or a group of friends want to hang out for dinner, almost everyone decides to go out to eat. Instead, I like to go to the store, pick up some ingredients and make a meal. It's homey and not as expensive, plus you don't have to deal with annoying or obnoxious people around you. This year for Valentine's day my boyfriend and I were going to stay at home, make a dinner and just watch movies; however we fell into the suckered idea of going out to eat (though we went on Friday instead). This is the dish I would have made if we had stayed home, instead I cooked for some friends on the actual Valentine's day since some of us were apart from our other half and others did not have one. So, if you want to make an intensely fragrant (in a good way) dish, try this! It is a reasonably simple recipe, even though the title might make you wonder with all of the herbs. Another nice thing about this pasta? It matches great with red wine :) Anyway so here is the recipe!

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley
3 tablespoons chopped basil
2 tablespoons chopped chives
2 tablespoons chopped chervil
1 tablespoon chopped tarragon
1 tablespoon chopped sage
1 tablespoon chopped oregano
1 teaspoon chopped marjoram
1 teaspoon chopped thyme
1 teaspoon chopped rosemary
1/2-3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried red chili pepper flakes
1 pound dried tripolini or other small pasta
freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions:
1) Begin by heating water in a pot since the pasta will take the longest to cook (depending in your brand)

2) If you bought pre-ground herbs (which is the simplest thing yet not the freshest) go ahead and place them together in a bowl and set to the side. If you did buy fresh herbs, chop them on a clean cutting board and set aside. When it comes to things like oregano, parsley and the like, the usually come on a stem as follows

The thing to do is pluck the herb so you have as little stem as possible. It is edible, just stringy and therefor not often liked.

3) To get to the garlic, begin by peeling away the skin. The way I do it is to pinch the clove so it cracks, allowing you to begin the peeling easier.

4) Once the garlic is rid of the skin, chop it as fine as possible

Start by cutting the long way through the clove, then turn it 90 degrees and dice again.
To get it extra-fine, I angle the blade slightly so you are both cutting and crushing the garlic allowing for smaller pieces.

5) Before you begin your sauce, add your pasta to the boiling water with a pinch of salt and set your timer for the required cooking time that the package says. When you have about five minutes left before the pasta is done, begin the sauce.

6) Once all of your herbs and garlic are ready, place them in a low to medium heated saucepan with the olive oil.

remember to keep the heat low since the herbs don't burn. If you are using fresh greens, allow them to simmer until they turn bright. For both dried and fresh, sauce cooking time is between 2-3 minutes.

7) Gently drain your pasta, letting some moisture stay with the noodles. Mix both pasta and sauce in the pot you made your noodles in before transferring to a serving bowl.

8) Serve warm and enjoy!

So notes and experiences from this dinner:
*Make sure you do the pasta water first since it takes to boil (I forgot about that) so you don't have to wait around for the noodles to cook while you hope you haven't burned the herbs.

* When you use dried spices and herbs and they darken while cooking making them look really gross, don't worry because the dish still tastes great.

*When you invite someone over who lives in the same complex as you and they say they cannot come due to homework, be nice and walk over with your friends to bring them some. When they are not home like they said and you have a key to their place, flip their dining room table and chairs upside-down, reset the alarm, lock the door and leave.

*Again I reiterate that this is a perfect meal for either dates or group dinners and two-buck-chuck red wine can actually taste very nice when paired with the pasta and sauce.

Look for next weeks recipe...breakfast!!!