Pasta With Caramelized Onion, Swiss Chard and Garlicky Bread Crumbs
In the last few years, the whole-grain pasta offerings on supermarket shelves have expanded with gusto. Where there used to be one or two, there were now up to a dozen. There’s everything from mass-market brands touting health claims (High fiber! Good source of omega-3’s and antioxidants! Extra protein!), to artisanal pastas made from ancient strains of wheat like farro and spelt in tastefully rustic packaging, selling for upward of $10 a pound.
Not only are there more whole-wheat pastas available than ever before, but some of them show a major leap in quality. (Not all of them, though. There is still plenty of dreadful whole-wheat pasta out there.)
Ken Skovron, co-owner of Darien Cheese and Fine Foods, a specialty store in Connecticut, said that in the last few years he has watched sales of whole-grain pastas soar.
“There’s been a huge demand for them,” he told me. “A few years ago I stocked one or two cuts. These days I’ve got five or six, and they fly out the door.”
Unlike the gluey, good-for-you-but-not-your-tastebuds pastas of yore, the best whole-grain brands are firm-textured and tasty. I like the toastiness of whole-wheat spaghetti from Garofalo, which Emma Hearst, the chef and a co-owner at Sorella in Manhattan, compared to Grape-Nuts when we tasted it together. The gentle, honey-like flavor of Gia Russa whole-wheat fettuccine makes it a perfect “kid pasta,” said Anna Klinger, chef and co-owner at Al di Là in Park Slope, Brooklyn. My favorite is Bionaturae, which has a mild, clean flavor and an elastic texture that comes closest to that of regular pasta.
The warm, nutty flavor of varieties like these is robust enough to stand up to intense, complicated sauces, yet satisfying with just a little butter and Parmesan shaved over the top. Some were so good that I would happily eat them for their own toasty sake, even if their high fiber and nutrient count had not been lingering in the back of my mind.
3 tablespoons butter or olive oil
5 anchovy fillets
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2/3 cup bread crumbs
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus additional for drizzling
1 yellow onion, halved from stem to root and thinly sliced crosswise
Kosher salt and pepper
1 pound Swiss chard, ribs removed, leaves chopped
1/2 pound whole-wheat pasta, such as fusilli.
1. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Add 3 anchovies to the skillet; cook until melted, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute. Stir in the bread crumbs and toast until golden, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
2. Wipe the skillet clean and return it to a medium-high heat. Add the oil, the onion and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until very soft and caramelized, 15 to 20 minutes. Chop the remaining 2 anchovies and add them to the skillet. Cook until melted. Add the Swiss chard, a handful at a time, and cook until wilted, about 4 minutes. Cover and keep warm.
3. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions. Drain well. Toss with the chard mixture and bread crumbs, season with salt and pepper and drizzle with oil.
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