Maria being a passionate organic type of person, would purchase humongous quantities of spinach fresh from the open door markets and boil it, occasionally adding more water.
She did this until the volume was substantially reduced and the water became deep green.
The spinach was then put in a covered frying pan to cook slowly at a low flame and for a long time with lots of garlic, a pinch of salt and some olive oil. When the spinach became stringy and the garlic golden, the spinach was ready to accompany meat.
The spinach was extremely good but Maria probably also destroyed all nutrients from it.
Did She?
Maria then used the green water left behind from boiling the spinach and with a pinch of salt used it to boil the spaghetti.
The cooked spaghetti turned out green. She would then dress them with tomato sauce and sprinkle them with Parmigiano Reggiano.
She was a very patriotic gal and liked her display of pasta to symbolize the Tricolore.
• Her friend Chiara used beets as a great source to coloring the pasta reddish/pink.
• Silvia the friendly neighbor on the other hand, liked black pasta, and so she made her Pasta Nera by pouring squid or at times cuttlefish ink in the water.
Silvia would tell us that “Pasta Nera will be blacker with more ink in the water and it is best served with shellfish.”