Need some spaghetti inspiration

I think I’m gonna go and invent a recipe: 100 Mussels with pasta. :grin:

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When I see a package of salami ends in the deli section of the supermarket, I slice them thinly saute them along with onion, then mix with basil pesto and spaghetti, plus a splash of milk or cream. I ave no idea if this bears any relation to an established recipe.

Tossed with a spicy peanut sauce - essentially peanut butter thinned with stock, some chili pepper flakes, a little soy, some chopped scallions. Yummy hot or cold.

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I’ve done this and felt it really improved the chewiness of the noodle. However, thorough rinsing is required to remove the baking soda flavor.

THIS.

If you haven’t made this, please don’t assume it’s just a red sauce like you’ve had but are bored with. I suddenly had easy access to guanciale and Pecorino so I went with the ATK technique. My advice is, be stringent on these specific ingredients. They’re few so one weak link makes it dangerously blah.

I use:
-home-grated Pecorino (half in the sauce, half at the table)
-guanciale, rough-chopped
-red pepper flakes
-one large can plum tomatoes and juice, crushed
-splash of vodka (untraditional and purely to release the tomatoes’ alcohol-soluble flavor compounds)
-a good-quality spaghetti, plus some of its cooking water

That’s it. No olive oil, no garlic, no onion, no basil or other herbs. Maybe salt? But very little because the Pecorino is salty and I use a fair amount of both it and the guanciale. Honestly, it’s one of the most deeply flavorful things I’ve ever eaten. It just blows me away.

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Butter, garlic, and Maggi seasoning sauce. A tiny splash of fish sauce and black pepper. Tossed and fried in a pan so some of the noodles crisp up. Yum!

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You know I would throw a little chopped green onion on that.

I second you here, although Guanciale is hard to find in the USA. It does lend unique depth to a sauce, and creates one of those sauces that is actually better made a day ahead. Your prep sound like the classic Pasta all’Amatriciana, which I think tradiationally uses Perciatelli pasta (a long tubed spaghetti shape). Here’s a version by Batali using Bucatini (which might be identical to Perciatelli) and proposing Pancetta as a sub for Guanciale. But try to find Guinciale if possible:

OK, here’s a suggestion and a confession all rolled into one.

A couple of months ago I was on my way from somewhere to somewhere else and I saw a hand painted sign on the roadside, (a very common sight here in Houston), that read “African Food, Yada Yada, Yada Yada, Beef Suya, Yada Yada”.

I don’t know why, but “Beef Suya” caught my eye. I used the hands-free, voice command to make note and when I got somewhere else, I looked it up and found it to be a beef on a skewer dish with a spicy peanut coating. I wanted to try this! A week or so later, my local grocer, HEB, had big hunks of prime sirloin on sale for like $4/lb or something so it was on.

I think I used THIS RECIPE.

So far so good. I make the kabobs and let them marinate a good long while and then grilled over charcoal. I made some saffron rice and steamed green beans for the sides and settled down to enjoy.

I took one bite and absolutely winced because it was so salty. I looked at the recipe again. One teaspoon of salt. That’s all I used. You hafta know that I love salt. I have a whole shelf of salt. I have pink salt and orange salt and black salt and smoked salt and hand harvested sea salt from several continents. But this was “Inedible”.

OK, so you’re probably smarter than I am and have already figured out that I used salted peanuts. I eventually used all of the beef as “seasoning” in other dishes I wanted to salt. I finely minced some and put it in meatballs, taco meat, etc.

BUT, I also had about half of the ground peanut coating left.

SO last night, I was looking for a side dish for a chipotle marinated grilled tuna steak, (over sauteed spinach), and I had a double handful of linguine leftover from earlier in the week. So, here’s what I did:

I heated some olive oil and tossed in some finely chopped onion and minced hot banana pepper and let that sizzle a couple of minutes, and added a couple of teaspoons of that peanut spice and let it brown through and turned off the heat, added the pasta and tossed. It was excellent.

Anyway, my suggestion is some type of pan fried, highly seasoned spicy side dish. By the way, with the addition of a little shredded chicken and a handful of fresh spinach it would have made a great entree.

Let’s eat!

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I make this same dish but I call mine garlic and linguini due to the copious amounts of garlic I use, and I like to throw in some fresh lemon juice.

I like your way of cooking. An explorer!

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Saute broccoli with a bunch of garlic (I’m a card-carrying member of the pro-garlic party) - some browned bits are perfect but don’t burn the garlic (could also be roasted, I imagine).

Stir into al dente spaghetti with a couple handfuls of shredded cheese - I like Swiss - and dump into a lightly oiled casserole dish. Drizzle with small amount of milk or cream, cover with foil, and bake until hearted through and cheese is melty. Remove foil, scatter on more shredded cheese, and bake for another five to ten minutes, uncovered.

Let rest for a few minutes to set-up.

(Can add meat, vary the veggies and cheese, etc.)

Second suggestion: cook 1-2 tablespoons of tomato paste and pinch of dried basil in small amount of olive oil until melted and bubbly. Stir in half milk/half cream (about 1 1/2 cups), lower heat to simmer and stir often; let thicken until coats the back of a spoon.

Stir in 10 ounce pack of hawed/drained corn (best with white sweet corn, according to my notes), then fresh grated parmesan cheese and 4-8 ounces of slivered smoked salmon. Add plenty of fresh cracked black pepper (no salt usually needed due to salmon and cheese).

Warm through, then stir in cooked spaghetti - use reserved pasta water to thin sauce if necessary.

Doesn’t reheat well.

Works with other smoked fish to varying degrees - I made it with smoked trout, once, and the taste was good but the texture was a bit chunky; I think my cousin has made it with home-smoked tuna.

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One thought about red sauce, it’s super good when you add chopped radishes. If you didn’t want red sauce, what about sundried tomatoes with some fried radish? Nice crunch.

Drunken spaghetti. Pour a full bottle of red wine into a large pot and bring to a boil. Add spaghetti and cook until the wine has fully absorbed and cooked to your liking. We like a fully limp spaghetti for this. Drain pasta and serve with fresh grated parm.

Lemon spaghetti comes together by preparing the pasta to your liking, drain but reserve a half cup of the pasta water. return the cooked pasta to the pot, add the starch water, light cream, butter, grated parm and the juice from one lemon along with a heaping bunch of lemon zest. Toss and serve.

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I always like to make a simple pasta , with a vegetable , and a glass of wine . One of natures wonders . https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017306-pasta-aglio-olio-e-peperoncino . Buon Appetito . Just noticed this website has a log in . Bummer . You get the idea for the pasta .

If you have fresh heirloom tomatoes then either Ruhlman’s Weeknight Spaghetti or Pim’s 15 minute tomato sauce. Broccoli, oo, copious amounts of garlic and a sprinkle of rpf.

You must have been seriously drunken, with an excess of wine in the house, to come up with this one. :wink:

Emglow, your post reminded me of another from the NYT…pasta with corn https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018212-creamy-corn-pasta-with-basil

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Ha! Nah, just curious about it. My wife found the idea mentioned in a food and wine magazine. The alcohol burns off of course but the wine flavor was sensational. Although this prep always surprises guests, most have enjoyed it.

Use great wine👍

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