Food blogging
During my bachelor days in the 1990s, I got a taste for a particular pasta kit put out by Near East, specifically their Spicy Tomato - basically angel hair with some tomato, spices and oil. Thing is, it's not all that inexpensive as pasta kits go and it is pretty high in salt. Besides, you have to provide the fresh tomato and oil.
Tonight I decided it had been rather too long since I last had the dish. Instead of getting a kit, though, I decided to make it at home from scratch and with a lot less salt. I didn't have a box nearby to see the ingredients list, alas, but my memory isn't all gone yet. I knew the spice came from pepper, but not all of the pepper in the dish was spicy. I cooked about 1/4-1/3 lb. of fettucine, the only long thin pasta I could find in the house. Hey, most of our pasta is rotini and radiatorre. The pasta, as such, was not the tricky part.
I combined the following in a medium glass bowl. Measurements are at best approximate, sorry:
1 fresh medium-sized tomato, chopped
2-3 oz. tomato paste (I used Rienzi; it is my favorite and all we have in the house)
Sweet paprika (6-10 heavy dashes)
Ancho pepper (1 small pinch)
Cayenne pepper (2 light dashes)
A couple of dashes garlic power
A dash of onion powder
A dash of powdered oregano
A couple of grinds from the salt grinder
A pinch of dry basil
A half-dozen roasted garlic cloves, smooshed into the tomato paste
1-2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
half an ounce of grated romano cheese
I mixed all of those together while the pasta cooked. After draining, I tossed the pasta in the mix. It tasted very much like I remember, especially the pepper profile.
I didn't really miss the salt. Thank goodness!
Tonight I decided it had been rather too long since I last had the dish. Instead of getting a kit, though, I decided to make it at home from scratch and with a lot less salt. I didn't have a box nearby to see the ingredients list, alas, but my memory isn't all gone yet. I knew the spice came from pepper, but not all of the pepper in the dish was spicy. I cooked about 1/4-1/3 lb. of fettucine, the only long thin pasta I could find in the house. Hey, most of our pasta is rotini and radiatorre. The pasta, as such, was not the tricky part.
I combined the following in a medium glass bowl. Measurements are at best approximate, sorry:
1 fresh medium-sized tomato, chopped
2-3 oz. tomato paste (I used Rienzi; it is my favorite and all we have in the house)
Sweet paprika (6-10 heavy dashes)
Ancho pepper (1 small pinch)
Cayenne pepper (2 light dashes)
A couple of dashes garlic power
A dash of onion powder
A dash of powdered oregano
A couple of grinds from the salt grinder
A pinch of dry basil
A half-dozen roasted garlic cloves, smooshed into the tomato paste
1-2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
half an ounce of grated romano cheese
I mixed all of those together while the pasta cooked. After draining, I tossed the pasta in the mix. It tasted very much like I remember, especially the pepper profile.
I didn't really miss the salt. Thank goodness!