Friday, April 17, 2020

Fusion pasta

A spicy garlic butter pasta, slightly adapted from Marion's Kitchen: https://www.marionskitchen.com/spicy-garlic-butter-linguini/

What I used:

  • spaghettini
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 1 bird's eye chili (VERY hot)
  • tablespoon of fine diced white onion (leftover)
  • olive oil
  • butter
  • red chili flakes
  • soy sauce
  • worscestershire sauce (replacement for oyster sauce)
  • grated parmigiano-reggiano
  • kosher salt
  • reserved salted pasta water
  • lemon zest
What I did:
I followed Marion's recipe pretty closely with just a couple of mods. I decided to add one bird's eye chili, because I wanted more heat, and the diced onion because I had it leftover.

Boil the water for cooking pasta first because there isn't much to the sauce - yet this sauce is so rich and indulgent! In a large pan, I heated olive oil first then added onion till translucent. Seasoned onion in the pan with a bit of salt. Next, I added about 1 to 2 tablespoons of butter, finely minced garlic (4 cloves), diced chili, and a generous helping of chili flakes (about 1 to 2 tablespoons). Once garlic starts turning golden, I added 3 tablespoons of soy sauce and 1 teaspoon of worscestershire. I stirred this for a minute or so then took it off the heat, waiting for my pasta to finish cooking.

As soon as pasta is al dente, I put my sauce pan back on the heat and added the spaghettini directly to the hot pan. As Marion instructued, I kept turning the pasta in the pan, letting it absorb the sauce. It looks so glossy and beautiful, at this point!

Then take it up another level and add in about 3 tablespoons of finely grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese. If needed, add a few tablespoons of reserved pasta water to melt the cheese, and turn it into a luscious sauce. Once all the water is cooked off, turn off the heat.

I served the pasta with another sprinkling of parm, a bit of zested lemon, and a couple cracks of black pepper.

What I might do next time:
I absolutely loved this dish. Simple and rich. Carbalicious. Butterlicious. Spicylicious. All my favourite things. I stuck pretty close to the original recipe for my first try because I haven't made a fusion pasta like this before (adding soy sauce and worscestershire really punched up the umami and salt dimension). Next time, if I wanted a little virtue, I might finish with frozen peas, baby spinach, or add a fresh lemon vinaigrette salad to go with it.

In general, I think this sauce could be a great basis for lots of on-the-fly pastas. Maybe add mushrooms and leeks another time. I love pasta because it's a delicious way to use up a lot of wilting veggies.

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