What's For Dinner: Spaghetti with Olives and Italian Breadcrumbs

This meal was inspired by a recent episode of Giada De Laurentiis' Everyday Italian. (The episode seemed to be one of the rare ones without a lot of gratuitous leaning over by Giada.) Given that I was not in the mood to make a many-stepped meal, this simple-to-make pasta entree definitely fit the bill.

Spaghetti with Olives and Italian Breadcrumbs

makes 2 servings

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup dry Italian breadcrumbs (see below for recipe)

~12 green and kalamata olives, roughly chopped

1 tablespoon fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley, roughly chopped

whole wheat spaghetti

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add a pinch of coarse sea salt and the spaghetti to the boiling water. (I used a fistful of spaghetti, about the diameter of a quarter.)

2. While the pasta is cooking, heat about 2 T of olive oil in a large skillet on the stovetop.

3. Add the bread crumbs, and stir. Cook the bread crumbs until they are lightly browned, about 2 minutes.

4. Remove the skillet from the heat and add the olives.

5. After about 8 minutes (or when the pasta is al dente) remove the spaghetti from the cooking pot with tongs, and add to the skillet. Drizzle with a tablespoon or two of olive oil and stir together.

6. Add about 1/4 cup of the pasta water to the skillet and stir to combine. (The pasta-bread crumb mixture should be lightly moistened, but not mushy.)

7. Finish the pasta dish by adding the parsley to the top. Serve immediately.

Italian Breadcrumbs

makes about 2 cups

5 slices of whole wheat bread 

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried parsley

1/4 teaspoon oregano

1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/4 tesapoon rosemary

1. Preheat an oven to 300 degrees.

2. Place the bread slices on a baking sheet. Put the baking sheet in the heated oven and bake until the slices are lightly browned, about 15-20 minutes. (Constantly check the bread to ensure it does not burn.)

3. Allow the slices to cool.

4. Once the bread slices are cooled, add them to a food processor, and process until a fine- to coarse-textured breadcrumb is produced. Add the seasonings and pulse a few times to thoroughly combine.

5. Store in an airtight container. To keep for an even longer time, store leftover breadcrumbs in the freezer.