One of my favorite packaged pastas is this one (Torchietti) from Trader Joe’s. Sadly, this product is no longer available from them (or anyone else apparently). We have had 1/2 box leftover for about a year. Today I decided to finish it with a special lunchtime dish.

I enjoy making up pasta dishes with a variety of components from around the Mediterranean. While the Torchietti (imported from Italy) was simmering in the pot, I poured 3 Tbs. of Cretan ( Greek) olive oil in my favorite sauteuse. I filleted an Italian salt-packed anchovy and let it dissolve slowly on very low heat. The next step was to add a single skinless, seeded plum tomato along with roasted red pepper slices. By this time the pasta was cooked, so I added it to the pan, along with a little pasta water. For flavor and sharp color contrast, I pitted about 30 Azietone Preta black olives from Portugal and added them to the dish. Back to Italy for a handful of grated Pecorino cheese, and a quick stop in Spain for a few grains of fleur de sel from Ibiza and my dish was ready for the table.

A white wine from the Douro Valley in Portugal was my choice to accompany the pasta. The label read “Pomares”, a brand from Quinta Nova, a winery my son and I had visited 5 years ago. It was a selection suggested by Andre Ramos, the superb wine director at Portugalia in Fall River, MA. I was fascinated to learn that this wine is made from 3 grapes I had never encountered before: Viosinho, Gouveio and Rabigato! It is a medium bodied wine, full of flavor, and well matched to the olives and peppers in the dish.

The lunch was a complete success, and I have another serving in the refrigerator for lunch tomorrow.