March 25, 2012

Food and Wine Whole-Wheat Linguine with Walnuts, Orange and Chile

As you all know I love pasta and cheese. Separately, together it doesn't matter, I love them both. I have tried unsuccessfully to get my family to try whole-wheat pasta since it became readily available a few years back. Every couple of months I try a new recipe hoping that they will change their minds and realize that they do in fact like whole-wheat pasta. I shouldn't be surprised at their resistance. When I first met my husband he thought that bacon and bacon grease were a major food group. Everything that he cooked was fried in bacon grease and somehow he weighed 130 pounds. Fast forward almost 10 years and I have successfully transitioned him into using olive oil instead of bacon fat and to admit that bacon is a sometimes food. Whole-wheat pasta has still been a struggle. He has slowly progressed to the point that there are a few recipes using whole-wheat pasta that he appreciates and I make semi-frequently. The April issue of Food and Wine magazine had a recipe for Whole-Wheat Linguine with Walnuts, Orange and Chile which looked very simple and I was hopeful that my family would enjoy it regardless of the whole-wheat pasta.

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes 25 minutes of total time and makes 4 servings. I had to make a few substitutions to the ingredients due to their lack of availability. Calabrian chiles are not available in my area, so as suggested by the recipe I substituted crushed red pepper. I doubled the recipe, so I used 2 tablespoons of crushed red peppers to substitute for the 2 tablespoons of chiles. The taste was nice, but I thought a little overly spicy. I would suggest cutting back on the total amount of crushed red pepper if substituting. I toasted the walnuts on the stove top instead of the oven. I find it easier to toast nuts on the stove rather than turning on my gas oven and heating up my entire kitchen. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I am happy to report that my husband and two kids ate this dish and were pleased with the whole-wheat pasta. The flavor was simple and spicy. The orange wasn't very noticeable, so if you want a strong citrus flavor I would suggest increasing the amount of orange peel. My husband took the leftovers for work the next day and reported that they re-heated well. Overall, a simple pasta recipe that my non-whole-wheat pasta loving family enjoyed.

For the recipe go to Whole-Wheat Linguine with Walnuts, Orange and Chile.

10 comments:

  1. "When I first met my husband he thought that bacon and bacon grease were a major food group." Haha!

    You had me at "pasta" on this recipe, Frugal! This recipe looks tasty. I'm not big on heat though, so I'm glad you mentioned cutting down on the chiles/crushed red pepper. I think I'll add more orange instead.

    Thanks, Frugal! :)

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    1. I would definitely cut down on the crushed red pepper if you don't like heat, with the full 2 tablespoons it has a lot of kick :) I agree with adding more orange, it wasn't overly citrus tasting, so adding more orange would work well.

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  2. I have been "working" on my family in this way too! Thanks for the tip! We are all whole-wheat here, as far as bread goes.. they will even eat brown rice.. but the pasts is still a hard sell!

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    1. My family loves whole wheat bread also. The whole-wheat pasta hasn't gone over as well :)

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  3. This recipe looks yummy. It took me awhile but I really like whole wheat pasta and so does the family. I have also enjoyed spicier food since I lost weight. Thanks for checking out my blog and following me. I like your blog a will enjoy following it

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    1. I like whole wheat pasta, but I'm still working on the rest of my family :) Come back again soon!

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  4. This recipe sounds very intriguing. Interesting mix of flavors.

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    1. It did have an interesting mix of flavors, plus a great spiciness from the crushed red pepper!

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