Pantry Staple Pasta, with some Green

As some of you may know, my husband and I are renovating our 100+ year old house. It's rewarding, but it's also time consuming. On top of that, pretty much any extra dollars we have go to the house. Needless to say, now more than ever it is important for us to be able to make quick and inexpensive (and of course, healthy) meals. Pasta is a go to for dinner that fulfills these needs, and I cook it about once a week. But like any main ingredient, it's easy to get in a rut making the same old dishes. Today I decided to make a pasta dish with a sauce I've never tried. I have Epicurious to thank for the recipe inspiration; you can find it here. The great thing about this recipe is that I had every ingredient in my pantry except the spinach.

If you compare the inspiration recipe and my recipe below, you'll see I made just a few tweaks to the recipe since it already sounded really good. I swapped the type of pasta, skipped the onions, and left out the pine nuts (wish I didn't have to, but they are quite pricey). And get this. Somehow I managed to totally forget about the Parmesan cheese. I have a deliciously fragrant block sitting in my fridge, as always, and I just neglected to take it out tonight. I'm sure this dish would have been even better if I'd remembered it!

PENNE WITH ROASTED PEPPERS AND WILTED SPINACH
-1 tbsp flour
-1 tbsp butter
-2 tbsp olive oil
-5 garlic cloves, minced
-1 tsp fresh thyme, minced
-1 tsp crushed red pepper flake
-3/4 cup white wine
-1 1/4 cup vegetable stock
-salt and pepper
-1 bag fresh spinach
-1 jarred roasted red pepper, sliced
-1/2 pound penne, cooked
-freshly grated Parmesan cheese to taste (I forgot it, but you should use it!

-Heat the olive oil and garlic in a saute pan up to medium heat and cook the garlic for 3-4 minutes until fragrant and just starting to brown.
-Add the thyme, crushed red pepper flake, wine, and vegetable stock. Bring to a gentle boil and cook until reduced by about half.
-In the meantime, mash the flour and butter into a paste. Once the liquid in the pan is reduced, whisk in the flour/butter paste. Continue to cook the sauce for another 1-2 minutes until it thickens. Season with salt and pepper.
-Toss the spinach and roasted peppers in the sauce, coating well and cooking until the spinach wilts.
-Toss the cooked pasta with the spinach mixture, coating well. Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, toss again, and serve.

Wondering what to do with that extra white wine? Well of course, you could always drink it. I'm a beer girl myself, but I use wine to cook at least a few times a month so I always end up with a open bottle in the fridge. Wine won't last forever. Instead of letting it go to waste, fill an ice cube tray with the leftover wine and freeze it. My trays give me 1/4 cup of wine with 2 cubes; use a measuring cup to see what yours are. Once the cubes are frozen, put them in a plastic bag in the freezer and you'll never have to run out to the store again when you want to cook with wine.