Linguine with Crushed Pistachio and Eggs

Have I mentioned Food Cart Friday? I’m pretty sure I have. Most Friday’s, schedule permitting, Andrew comes downtown to eat lunch with me [cue the awws] at one of the million and three food carts. Sometimes we try something new, like Wayang the Indonesian street food cart or Sultan’s Kitchen, the Turkish spot. Other times we try good ol’ standbys like Briskets [I bet you can guess what that is…], Sawasdee for Thai, or Built to Grill, some of the best Italian food. Ever. Most of the time we cap it off with a a macchiato from Spella.

One of my favorite things to do is sit at the counter on the side of Built to Grill’s cart and watch the magic happen. There are all kinds of fresh ingredients being thrown together in a pan to make some amazing combinations — linguine and clams with white wine, penne with pesto, penne alla vodka with spicy sausage. The list goes on and it rotates frequently. If you don’t want pastas, they have an equal number of huge, Italian sandwiches — the Italian hero, the muffaletta, etc.

Those same pasta techniques definitely inspired this ‘pantry clean up’ meal. It was a solo mission that turned out pretty good. Sometimes throwing stuff into a pan can be really gross dangerous, but when you’re alone you can afford to take more risks [remember the stir fried hot dogs?]. Worst case? Roma’s happy. I honestly thought about making carbonara, but I wanted more eggs. I also wanted prosciutto and peas [Sidenote: they have cranberry beans at the store. I don’t think I’ve ever had them before. Have you?], but I had neither and didn’t want to walk across the street. New Seasons has to get tired of me going over to buy $3-5 in groceries at a time. I did have pistachios, though. They’re green like peas! So close, yet so far.

The result was simple and easy and way more filling than I expected, but it’s no Built to Grill.

Ingredients

• 2oz linguine
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten in a separate bowl
• 1/4 cup pistachios, roughly chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• olive oil
• 1-2 pinches of dried parsley
• salt and pepper
• nutritional yeast [optional, but I had it laying around in the pantry, so why not?]

Preparation

Cook the pasta according to package directions, reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water in a small glass/bowl, and drain the rest. Remember to salt the heck out of your water before you add the pasta. Flavor, flavor, flavor!

Coat the bottom of a pan in a thin layer of olive oil. Heat it to medium heat. When a drop of water sizzles in it, add the minced garlic with a pinch of salt and a couple twists of freshly cracked pepper.

After a minute of stirring [dang garlic burns easily], add the pistachios. Stir for another minute until they’re coated in oil and fragrant. Dump the pasta into the pistachio mixture. Using tongs [preferably], swirl the pasta around in the oily, garlic-y, pistachio-y goodness. If it starts to stick, add a splash of the pasta water. Get the pasta nice and coated.

Turn the heat down to medium low, and pour in the egg. Start stirring like your life depended on it. If there were only one egg, you’d probably end up with a carbonara, but since there is two, bits and pieces will start to scramble. The rest will coat ever inch of the pasta. It’ll also start smelling really, really good. Once the egg is cooked 2-3 minutes, remove from heat and place on a plate or in a bowl. Top with salt, pepper, parsley, and nutritional yeast if it strikes your fancy. Red chile flake would be good, too.