• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Whip & Wander

Recipes for food, travel, and life

  • Home
  • About
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
  • Food
    • Recipes
  • Adventures
    • abroad
    • domestic
  • Life
    • musings
    • what I’m reading

Pasta with Olive Tapenade

February 12, 2019 By Whip & Wander Leave a Comment

Pasta with Olive Tapenade

Pasta with Olive Tapenade: A meatless dish for even the most carnivorous

We’ve gotten into an unfortunate habit in my house of planning meals around what type of meat will be served. I could blame my meat-and-potatoes-loving midwest fella if I wanted to be particularly unfair, but I’m totally guilty of daydreaming my way through menu-planning around rich and hearty beef roasts, herb-rubbed chicken, and oil drizzled fish all on my own. You could say we really lean into a meaty winter menu.

While both of us are decidedly carnivorous, I feel like its nice to break up the week with a few meatless dishes that command their own spotlight. This Pasta with Olive Tapenade is one of my favorite ways to include a meatless dish on the dinner menu without sacrificing the heartiness that comes along with a traditional meat-centric dish. The meaty umami of the olive tapenade is the clear star of the show in this dish. When paired with a simple pasta, a good salty cheese, and a drizzle of olive oil it forms a simple but satisfying powerhouse.

Skip to recipe

Pasta with Olive Tapenade

Pasta with Olive Tapenade

What type of pasta is best?

I generally like to make this with a gluten-free spaghetti (you can use regular if you’re not gluten-free). My favorite options are the Tinkyada Brown Rice Pasta, which I’ve easily found at several grocery stores (look for the purple bag), and Trader Joes Brown Rice Spaghetti Pasta. A thin pasta, like spaghetti, allows the olive tapenade to disperse more evenly than a wider noodle, but you can feel free to use your favorite shape. I also think this would be wonderful tossed in with a fusilli pasta because the olive tapenade would cling well to the spirals.

If you’re trying to stay away from grain and want to lighten the carb count of this dish up, zucchini noodles or spaghetti squash are the way to go. The latter being my preference because I feel that it holds up to cooking and reheating better than zucchini noodles.

Pasta with Olive Tapenade

Pasta with Olive Tapenade

A note for special diets

If you make this Pasta with Olive Tapenade with a brown rice spaghetti, as instructed below, this recipe fits gluten-free and low-fodmap diets. For those abstaining from grain altogether, or would like to lower their carb count, this dish can easily accommodate a Keto diet by subbing the pasta with a low-carb alternative such as zucchini noodles or spaghetti squash.

Pasta with Olive Tapenade

Pasta with Olive Tapenade

Pasta with Olive Tapenade
Print

Pasta with Olive Tapenade

Prep 2 mins

Cook 20 mins

Total 22 mins

Author Whip & Wander

Yield 6 servings

Ingredients

  • 16oz gluten free pasta (I prefer brown rice options like this and this)
  • 1 1/2 cups my quick recipe for Olive Tapenade 
  • 1 1/2 cups parmesan cheese, shredded and divided
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • Fresh chopped parsley to top (optional)

Instructions

  1. Cook pasta according to package instructions until it reaches al dente (firm when bitten) tenderness. For the brown rice pasta I use, I bring 4.5 quarts of water to a boil then add the pasta noodles. I don't bother salting my water because the olive tapenade is plenty salty for the dish. Boil for 12-14 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes. Gluten-free rice pasta has a tendency to stick together when cooking, so giving it a quick stir every couple of minutes helps prevent this without resorting to oiling the water (which every Italian grandmother will likely slap you for doing).
  2. Drain the pasta into a colander. I also like to give the pasta a quick rinse under fresh warm water because it can help remove some of the excess starchiness that gluten-free rice noodles often have.
  3. Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the olive tapenade and stir, cooking for about 2 minutes to allow it to get a bit of direct heat before adding the pasta.
  4. Lower the heat to medium and add the pasta and stir to combine.
  5. Sprinkle in 1 cup of the shredded parmesan cheese and stir to combine, then turn heat off.
  6. Serve warm with a sprinkle of the remaining parmesan cheese and parsley on top.

Courses Mains

Cuisine Italian

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 1/6 of the pasta

Amount Per Serving

Calories 522

% Daily Value

Total Fat 25 g

38%

Saturated Fat 1 g

5%

Cholesterol 20 mg

7%

Sodium 1165 mg

49%

Total Carbohydrates 63 g

21%

Dietary Fiber 3 g

12%

Protein 13 g

26%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Pasta with Olive Tapenade
Pasta with Olive Tapenade
Pasta with Olive Tapenade
Pasta with Olive Tapenade
Pasta with Olive Tapenade

Filed Under: mains Tagged With: 30 minutes or less, gluten-free, low-fodmap, mains, sibo, vegetarian

Previous Post: « Olive Tapenade

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Hey, I’m Jenni!

Welcome to my adventures on the road and in the kitchen! Join me as I whip and wander my way through recipes for food, travel, and life. Learn more about this blog! →

What’s New

Pasta with Olive Tapenade

Pasta with Olive Tapenade

Olive Tapenade

Olive Tapenade

Keto Artichoke Spinach Dip

Keto Artichoke Spinach Dip

2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge

Whip & Wander 2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge

Grain-Free Pumpkin Spice Granola

Grain-Free Pumpkin Spice Granola

Let’s keep in touch! Sign up to receive updates via email.

Let’s Connect

@whipandwander on Insta

Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2019 · All Rights Reserved · Whip & Wander

All recipes, photos, and text on this site are the original creations and property of Jenni LeBaron - Whip & Wander. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of material on this site without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Whip & Wander with appropriate and specific link to the original content. Re-publishing a recipe in its entirety is strictly forbidden. Please refrain from adapting recipes without properly linking back to the original recipe.