Smoked Olive Pasta with Lemon & Spinach

The Fume – Eh Story:
FUME – eh Smoked Olives were dreamt up after a Coquitlam resident, Paula, tried her first smoked olive in a restaurant in San Fransico while visiting. As soon as she came back home, she set out in search of a place to buy her new favourite culinary staple, only to discover that this unique product was nowhere to be found north of the border! Determined to enjoy a smoked olive at home, Paula bought herself a smoker and worked with Bosa to source olives for her new venture. Shortly after that, FUME – eh was born!

As soon as we tasted them, we knew you’d love them too! And we knew just the recipe for them.

Smoked Olive Pasta with Lemon & Spinach
Since there isn’t really a “sauce” involved, you might be tempted to think that this dish will bland but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The saltiness of the feta and the smokiness of the olives blended with fresh lemon juice and drizzled in a buttery olive oil can be summed up in two words: sweet simplicity.
This recipe is so easy, I wouldn’t worry too much about the measurements for each ingredient. Go with your gut, and adjust everything to your own tastes – after all, you know what you like in a meal! You’ve been eating your whole life, so trust your instincts. Want to load your bowl up with more spinach? Go for it. Prefer a little less lemon? No problem! The only modification I would advise against is substituting the smoked olives – you have got to try FUME – eh! The bold smoky flavour adds so much depth to this dish, that even people who typically don’t enjoy olives love FUME – eh.

What I love about this recipe is how good it tastes with so little effort. Since you only need to boil noodles and chop the rest of the ingredients, there’s very little cleanup to do after cooking. Since the dish doesn’t need to be served warm, it also makes a very easy lunch to take to work the next day.

Smoked Olive Pasta with Lemon & Spinach

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Ingredients

Scale

1 pack dry linguine

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Note: This is very good with Vancouver Island Smoked Sea Salt!

a few handfuls fresh baby spinach (keep in mind that it will wilt a little bit, so be generous with your handfuls!)

1/2 a red onion, chopped

2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil to drizzle

Fume – eh smoked olives

2 lemons

crumbled feta cheese (I used a pack that was 175 g)

Optional: 1 lb grilled chicken breasts, sliced into strips

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Instructions

Cook pasta in salted water according to directions listed on the package. Be sure to use a pot that gives you extra space, because you’ll be adding the rest of the ingredients to this pot later on! Once the pasta is cooked, drain water and rinse with cold water. Return pasta to pot.

Chop one lemon into rounds, and then into halves to mix into your pasta. Cut the other lemon in half, and juice it – Chef’n juicer works great for this, as it collects the seeds and pulp and leaves you with only the juice. If you don’t have one, no worries, you can use a fork for this step! You can do this directly over the pasta (watching carefully for seeds that fall in), or into an extra dish to separate the seeds more easily.

Set the pot over the lowest heat setting and add olive oil, lemon juice, feta cheese, and smoked olives. Stir to coat the pasta evenly. If the noodles are sticking together, add some of the liquid from the smoked olive jar. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and stir the fresh baby spinach in, letting it wilt slightly on low heat for about 2 minutes.

You can add grilled chicken breast to make it a dinner, or serve on it’s own for a lighter meal. If you used smaller noodles, you could even turn this into a pasta salad!

If you do grill chicken breast, I recommend brushing the chicken lightly with olive oil and season both sides salt, pepper and garlic powder before grilling.