This story is part of On Repeat, a series in which we ask top chefs, cookbook authors, and other famous foodies about the dishes they just can’t quit.
Today’s On Repeat recipe comes courtesy of New York Times contributor Yasmin Fahr, whose new book, Cook Simply, Live Fully, organizes recipes by mood and energy level: Lap Dinners, Coffee Table Dinners, and At the Dinner Table. Fahr pointed us to a meatless dish she developed for the Times that captures the low-key lap-dinner vibe many of us need in the doggiest days of summer: spicy tomato pasta with arugula. It calls for a dusting of parm at the end, but you can swap that for nutritional yeast or try our plant-based parm if you’re going cheeseless.
Why I love it
“It’s kind of a lazy way of ‘How do you eat some greens and have some pasta without doing any prep work?’ Because there’s no chopping of onions or knife work. You’re combining some tomato paste and hot chile paste and adding cooked pasta. I top the bowl with some arugula, a drizzle of olive oil, and some grated parmesan.
“I think it hits all of the comfort spots, where it’s super fast, and pasta is my comfort food. Eating something out of a bowl in my lap when I’m tired feels very nourishing.”
What I’ve changed
“I usually use angel hair because it cooks really quickly and is very light, but you can use any type of pasta. I use a Calabrian chile paste, but you could use a chile-garlic paste or harissa—any kind of hot paste you want—or sliced hot pickled chiles.
“And I definitely change the greens sometimes. If the weather is colder, I’ll cook them. So maybe a little sautéed kale or spinach or chard, and put that on top of the pasta. You still use one pot to cook the sauce and everything; it’s just one more step. It just depends on the weather and my mood.”
What else I’m into right now
Super seasonality. Now that I’m living in [the Spanish island of] Menorca, I’m eating very seasonally. I shop at the market on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and that’s where I get my produce. So I’m really eating by the seasons.
Turning garbage into goat cheese. I’m trying to waste less, and I have a friend who has a goat farm, so I save all of my fruit and vegetable scraps, and he gives it to his goats and he makes cheese out of that milk, so it comes full circle. I haven’t found a compost place yet, so this feels like a nice solution.
Plastic proxies. I’m trying to reduce my use of plastic. It’s really hard, because it’s in so many things. Where I live, you can’t really drink the tap water, so a lot of people use osmosis systems or plastic bottles. (I’m looking into filters.) So when shopping and in my own home, as much as possible I try not to use plastic.