Buon Appetito: White Bean & Sardine Red Pepper Rotini

My weekends have recently been freed up in the best possible way and I've been soaking up every weekend minute, which you may already know if you follow Minneapple Eats on Instagram! In case you missed all the pics, I'll give you the lowdown.

Friday night we checked out the latest restaurant to open in South Minneapolis, Nighthawks. We moved to the Kingfield neighborhood last August and have been anxiously awaiting the opening of Nighthawks since. The time has finally come and it will surely be a neighborhood hit...two weeks before we move to our new neighborhood! Yes, we finally found a house and close in about two weeks. We'll still be relatively close, but not just down the block. Oh well, new adventures await! There will be more on this later, I'm sure.

Anyway, Saturday we got out and about other parts of town and spent the day biking around the lakes, along the creek and Greenway. We also made a stop at the food truck fest at Harriet Brewing. There were way too many trucks to try for one little lady. Needless to say, I have a lot of work to do this summer.

Hopefully everyone had a chance to enjoy the sunshine on Saturday because Sunday brought the rain and gray. We've got a week of it ahead of us, actually. But hey, I won't let it get me down because that just means I can cook all those cozy meals I haven't let go of just quite yet. Let's face it, though, pasta is good any time of year.

White Bean & Sardine Red Pepper Rotini

Serves: 2

Preparation Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp. olive oil

• 1 shallot, diced

• 2 garlic cloves, minced or sliced

• white wine or vermouth, for deglazing

• 1 15-oz. can white beans (cannellini), rinsed & drained

• 1 tin sardines (I used harissa-marinated ones from Trader Joe's for extra flavor), roughly chopped

• 1 15-oz. can fire-roasted tomatoes

• 2 tbsp. tomato paste

• pinch of red pepper flakes

• 1/2 lb. red pepper rotini (plain will work just as well, but I like local Sunrise Gourmet's red pepper)

• salt/pepper, to taste

• handful of fresh basil, freshly torn

Method:

1. Heat olive oil in a large saute pan. In a sauce pot, bring enough salted water to cook pasta to a boil. Saute shallots in olive oil and once they become somewhat translucent, add in garlic. Continue to saute until the garlic becomes just fragrant.

2. Deglaze pan with white wine or vermouth. Once the fizzling has stopped, add in white beans. Saute for a few minutes. Add in chopped sardines and continue to saute. Once most of the liquid has been absorbed, add in tomatoes, tomato paste and red pepper flakes . Bring to a gentle simmer.

3. Cook pasta in the boiling water while the sauce is simmering. Once the pasta is just al dente, remove from boiling water with a pasta scoop and add to the simmering sauce. Add a ladle or two of the starchy pasta water if the sauce is too thick. Sprinkle in salt and pepper, to taste. Top with freshly torn basil.