A Midnight Pasta Recipe For Your Late-Night Craving

Photo by Daria Shevtsova from Pexels

Who says you can’t make a gourmet meal late into the night?

With a name like midnight pasta, one might expect an extravagant, complicated dish. But this tasty meal, while utterly delicious, is simple to whip together and won’t take much time to make at all — which is actually the point.

This pasta dish was named for those late hours when you can’t quite fall asleep and need something warm, filling, and satisfying to lull yourself to sleep. It can be made for you and a friend to have a late-night conversation over, paired with a glass of a lovely red wine, or just for yourself, when facing a long night of studying, reading, or binge-watching your favorite show.

The Ingredients:

• 1 lb of pasta (any shape, though we recommend spaghetti)

• 1/2 cup olive oil

• 3-4 cloves minced garlic (or more… measure with your heart)

• 3 tbsp capers

• 1/3 tsp red pepper flakes (only if you want to spice up your night)

• 1/4 cup roughly chopped parsley

• Parmesan cheese

• sea salt (coarsely ground to make it even tastier)

• freshly ground pepper

How to make Midnight Pasta:

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Once boiling, cook your spaghetti for 8-10 minutes. Then, add the oil, garlic, capers, and red chili flakes to a small pan and allow them to cook, stirring often, while the pasta is still cooking (about 4 minutes). To keep the garlic from burning, keep the heat at medium-low. Once the pasta is done cooking, drain it (but hold onto a cup of pasta water), and return it to the pot. Then, mix in the ingredients from the pan. If the pasta is too dry, add in a tablespoon or two of the pasta water as needed. After that, add salt and pepper to taste, and fold in the parsley. Then, serve up the pasta, and sprinkle as much Parmesan cheese on top as your heart desires. Enjoy!

Tip: this dish pairs perfectly with a glass of Pinot Noir.