Friday, January 11, 2008

Presto Pasta for My Sickie!

There's a flu going around. Surprise, surprise. What's shocking to me is that not only did I avoid catching it this go-round, but Mr. I-Never-Catch-So-Much-As-A-Fly got smacked sideways with the worst case I've ever seen him with. Luckily for him, it only came to the forefront after we watched the Oshawa Generals massacre the Ottawa 67's last night (10-4, anyone?) including a fight and a very, shall we say, uncomfortably located injury during the third period!

Andrew's menu for today was chicken-noodle soup, grapefruit juice and tea (I love taking care of him... *hugs*), but yesterday and earlier this week as well he had me whip up a new noodle dish for him. He loves spicy things (probably as much or more than me!) and he was craving the arrabbiata dish from Mrs. Vanelli's at the mall, complete with garlic bread. I set about boiling the water for the pasta (salted, of course!) but upon opening our pantry I discovered a shocking lack of tomato products. Literally, all we had was 3 kinds of ketchup, and not much else! After a quick conference with Monsieur, I got the go-ahead to use the spicy ketchup along with some more herbage and (surprise surprise) crushed red pepper flakes! It got the 2 thumbs up and a lot of "yummy sounds", so I guess it isn't as bad as it seemed to look when I was making it!

This is a verrrrry spicy addition to Ruth's Presto Pasta Nights, so play with the levels to your taste. If you use regular tomato sauce and not ketchup (spicy or otherwise) add about 1 tsp lemon juice too. It's a meal designed to be about what you've got on hand already, not about what you have to run out to the store for! Go with the flow, and enjoy your noodles!

Pasta a la Refrigerateur
Serves 1
2-3 oz dry noodles (whatever you have on hand, I used these pretty tricolour corkscrews)
About 3-4 tbsp ketchup
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp each dried oregano and basil
Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
  1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add pasta and cook according to package directions.
  2. Drain, reserving a few tablespoons of the cooking water.
  3. Return pasta to pot, add ketchup and spices.
  4. Mix well, adding a spoonful of the cooking water if necessary.
  5. Serve hot with a grating of fresh Parmiggano-Reggiano if desired.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 345.0
Total Fat: 1.5 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 570.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate: 75.0 g
Dietary Fiber: 3.0 g
Sugars: 13.5 g
Protein: 10.5 g

1 comment :

  1. I'm sure your fantastic soup will cure what ails him. Check next Friday for the Presto Pasta Night Roundup. Thanks for sharing the cure with the rest of us. I know we'll be needing some before the winter's done.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for the feedback!