Read The Minimalist Cooks Dinner for Free Online

Provence or elsewhere; a crisp, light white; or fruity, light red
SERVE WITH
Tomato Salad with Basil ; 60-Minute Bread or good store-bought bread
    Keys To SUCCESS
    THE MOST RELIABLE HERBS are parsley or basil, because each can be used in large quantities without overwhelming the flavor of the dish, and both are widely available. Chervil, a delicious and underrated herb that tends to be expensive and even difficult to find because it is so fragile, is great as a supporting character here, as are dill, marjoram, mint, and oregano. More powerful herbs, including thyme, sage, tarragon, and rosemary, should be used more sparingly; a teaspoon—or a tablespoon in the case of sage—is plenty.
    I LIKE TO ADD a little butter to the sauce, which adds both creaminess and flavor, but you can certainly finish the dish with a bit of olive oil instead, or even with some of the water in which the pasta cooked.
    With MINIMAL Effort
    Some interesting herb combinations include
½ cup each of parsley and basil, ¼ cup dill, and 1 teaspoon each of thyme and tarragon
⅓ cup each of parsley, chervil, and marjoram, with a few needles of rosemary
½ cup marjoram, ¼ cup dill, 1 teaspoon of thyme or tarragon
     

Pasta with
Parsley Sauce
    TIME: 30 to 40 minutes
    MAKES: 3 main-course to 6 first-course servings
    Parsley is the most reliable and underrated herb in the western culinary world. Although we’ve come a long way from the days when its major role was as a decorative sprig on the side of a plate, we still don’t use parsley in the kinds of quantities we could. Here, it is cooked like a vegetable—like spinach, really—to create a delicious, fresh-tasting pasta sauce, one that provides blessed relief in the winter and can become a staple in the summer.
2 tablespoons butter or extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup minced shallot or onion
2 or 3 bunches parsley, (about 1 pound), stemmed, washed, and dried
1 cup heavy cream or half-and-half
Salt
1 pound cut pasta, such as ziti or penne
Freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Begin heating a large pot of water for the pasta. Put the butter or oil in a deep skillet and turn the heat to medium. When the butter melts, or the oil is hot, add the shallot or onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the parsley and cook, stirring, for about a minute. Add the cream and turn the heat to low.
Salt the pasta water and cook the pasta until it is tender but not mushy. Season the parsley mixture with salt and pepper. Drain the pasta, toss it with the parsley mixture and some grated cheese, and serve.
WINE
Good Chardonnay or white Burgundy, preferably (real) Chablis
SERVE WITH
60-Minute Bread or good store-bought bread
    Keys To SUCCESS
    PARSLEY’S THICK STEMS must be removed (you can use them for stock) and the leaves carefully washed. They should be dried as well, at least somewhat, so a salad spinner is the best tool for this task.
    With MINIMAL Effort
    Pasta with Spinach Sauce: Use about 10 ounces spinach, stemmed, washed, and chopped, in place of the parsley.
    Creamed Parsley: Serve this “sauce” as a vegetable dish, without the pasta. It will look like creamed spinach, but taste much different.
     

Pasta with
Green Beans,
Potatoes, and Pesto
    Pesto has become a staple, especially in late summer when basil is at its best. But pasta with pesto does have its limits; it’s simply not substantial enough to serve as a main course. The Genoese, originators of pesto, figured this out centuries ago, when they created trenette with pesto. Trenette is a pasta almost identical to linguine, and trenette with pesto (trenette is always served with pesto) often contains chunks of potatoes and green beans, which make it more complex, more filling, and more interesting than plain pasta with pesto. Recreating this classic dish is straightforward and easy.
    TIME: 30 minutes
    MAKES: 3 main-course to 6 first-course servings
Trenette with Pesto
2 cups basil leaves
2 garlic