Midnight Pasta Dinnertime Fun

Midnight pasta has a glamorous appeal. It's original name pasta mezzanotte implies a quick dinner after a wild night out. Imagine people coming back all dressed up to make a good plate of whatever. Yet I reality it's just means a dish thrown together with whatever can be found in the pantry. This makes for a good week night supper.

Regular contributor Melissa Clark explored this in her  A Good Appetite column in today's New York Times Wednesday Food section. Another name for midnight pasta might be pantry pasta because the ingredients are what's ever left in the pantry.  Think canned fish like anchovies or tuna, along with pickled peppers, capers , canned beans and of course tomato paste. Add spices like fennel seeds , top with cheese like grated Parmesan. Use lemons for a fresher ,  different spin. Ms Clark also likes to scatter a frilly green like parsley on top or leftover celery leaves  chopped up. A  few fresh picked and chiffonaded basil leaves can also be used for a good dose for color and flavor. She gives three recipes , one that includes the unexpected miso along with beans. Beans such as cannellini and chickpeas bring about protein and create a silky creaminess when broken down with the olive oil. As for pasta, any kind will do . It always pays to have a box of any kind in the house.

The three recipes  given are perfect for weekdays and weekends. There is pasta with white beans, olives  and fennel. Here she uses short chunky pasta like fusilli cavatappe, campenlli or shells.  They're better for the sauce to cling to. A can of drained cannellini beans makes up the sauce's base while crushed red pepper and fennel add mellowness and zing at the same time. Pitted green olives give  the sauce tang and brininess.  For  sauce , reminiscent of bright days by the seashore there is the pasta with lemon,capers and anchovies, This is a sauce for long pasta like bucatini and spaghetti. A lemon sliced into thin half moons gives the sauce its' sunniness  while anchovies bring about an earthy saltiness . The same goes for the two tablespoons that are also added. A tablespoon of butter gives it creaminess. A different spin is long pasta like spaghetti or fettuccine with miso, Parmesan and pickled peppers. Miso and soy sauce are added to a mix of melted butter , garlic and black pepper. Parmesan and pickled peppers along with the pasta are added and mixed together last. A pinch of salt can be added if the sauce isn't briny or salt enough.

Midnight pasta is a great and fun way to make sauce. Don;t serve it at midnight though. It's the perfect meal for weekdays and weekend suppers.