Trofie con Noci e Parmigiano

Oh my goodness was this dish delicious! Spaghetti oTrofie con Noci e Parmigiano; otherwise known as Spaghetti or Trofie with Walnuts and Parmesan. According to this recipe, trofie is corkscrew pasta. The photo in the cookbook doesn't show fusili or rotini (the pastas we usually think of when we think of corkscrew); it shows a much more dense, fresh looking pasta. Upon finding this recipe, I immediately knew that I wanted to use trofie pasta, not spaghetti and that no ordinary pasta would do. This was going to require something much more special. Three grocery stores later, I finally decided on a beautiful pasta called Casareccia which is made by a company called Rustichella D' Abruzzo. This is no ordinary pasta. This is the real deal and it is perfect for this recipe.

Casareccia Pasta is a Sicilian twisted tube-shaped pasta. From the end, it looks like an "S." Its shape catches and holds sauce very well. This helps to make it a particularly good pasta for baking, as there is less chance of it being dry. Most Casareccia Pasta is about 2 inches (5 cm) long. The dough will be about 1.3 mm thick.

14 ounces trofie

4-6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

4 oz. chopped walnuts

4 ounces freshly grated parmesan

3-5 garlic cloves, finely chopped

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp crushed thyme or marjoram leaves

I used marjoram leaves because I wanted to use a spice that I haven't used prior to this recipe. I use thyme frequently so I chose the marjoram route. Are you ready for how easy this is? I wish I could tell you that it was extremely labor intensive and that it took hours and hours but it was truly simple and fun to make. The best part however, is that it is in the top three most delicious recipes I have made thus far. We had Dave, Natalie and Carl over for dinner and when we sat down to eat, Dave just shook his head and said, "Kiersten, really? Unbelievable!" Natalie immediately said "you are making this again" and asked for the recipe. Brad said it was delicious. Carl loved it as well and he actually really likes walnuts so it was pleasing to everyone involved. Here are the instructions:

Cook pasta in large pan of rapidly boiling salted water until al dente. (My package of past said 10-12 minutes). Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine olive oil with walnuts, cheese, garlic, salt and pepper to taste and thyme or marjoram. Mix well. Drain pasta and toss with sauce, then serve in warmed shallow bowls before it cools.

That is it! Can you believe it? I can't say enough about this recipe and as Natalie said, there is nothing she would change about it. How often does anyone make a recipe when they can say they wouldn't change a thing? True cooking bliss.