aji mirasol

TomatoMania- Fried Spaghetti and Epilogue 2009

28 Sep 2009
fried spaghetti

Well, this is it! The last TomatoMania for 2009.

It's been a great tomato growing season. I learned so much from Scott Daigre. I hope his guest posts here were helpful for you as well.

But the hightlight of these past many Monday's (for me) was our tomato recipe contest. I so enjoyed cooking the 6 winning entries and posting them here for you. It was a great way to step out of my culinary box, stretch my tongs and try new things. That's what life is all about isn't it? The new and the exciting wrapped around and mingled amongst the comfort and love of things familiar. Because with out one, the other just seems hollow!

Speaking of adventure mingling with comfort. I have the last of the winning recipes for you today. It's certainly adventurous, but has all the comfort of a delicious slow-roasted tomato sauce too.

eric rivera recipe cardThis is a recipe for Fried Spaghetti with a Roasted Tomato Sauce. It comes to us from the mind of Eric, the soon to be chef behind the amazing blog, Eric Rivera Cooks. I saved it for last because I wanted to end this series with a smile. Anything Eric cooks you know is made with a smile. That man loves life in a way that makes his blog a joy to read. He is smack dab in the middle of culinary school and he is sharing his love for this adventure almost everyday. So go read him and smile.

As far as his recipe goes, I'll let it speak for itself. So click here and read it. I admit to making one rather large change though. Eric fried his spaghetti strands one at a time. I don't have the patience, so I opted to form my cooked noodles into nest shapes before coating them in his flour mixture. It's a nod to one way dried Italian pasta is often sold, sure. But it also makes a great bowl to hold the sauce. I love the way the nest keeps friedspaghettibowlsthe chunky tomatoes safely nestled inside, but still allows some of the sauce to leak out over the bottom of the bowl. Making for a very pretty presentation.

So that's it for TomatoMania 2009. All that is left is for Scott to bring you a few parting words! Take it away Scott...

 

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Fried Spaghetti with a Roasted Tomato Sauce

fried spaghetti
By jgreghenry Published September 28, 2009
Prep time: 180
Yield:1 (Servings)

Ingredients:

  • 3 roma tomatoes
  • 1 clv garlic cloves, peeled and minced
  • 1 T olive oil
  • 2 aji mirasol pod, ground and seperated
  • 2 t salt
  • 3 fresh basil leaves
  • 1 pn fresh oregano leaves
  • 1 cn fresh rosemary leaves, minced
  • 1.5 c flour
  • 0.25 c paprika
  • 2 T garlic salt
  • 1 T cayenne pepper (or to taste)
  • 4 egg whites
  • 0.5 lb died spaghetti

Directions

Prepare the sauce: Place the tomatoes, garlic, 1/2 of the Aji Mirasol and olive oil in an oven safe pan and cook covered at 225 degrees F. for 2 hours Remove them from the pan and carefully peel away their skins, adding them to a small sauce pan as you work. Place the pan on the stove and mix in the salt, basil,oregano, rosemary, and a couple tablespoons water. Cook until a chunky sauce consistency is achieved. If the pan is too dry add a bit more water, you want both chunky and saucy. Prep the dredging mixture: Mix flour, paprika, garlic salt, the remaining Aji Mirasol and cayenne together in a medium bowl. Mix the egg whites together with about 1 tablespoon water in a separate bowl. Fry the spaghetti: add the cooked and cooled spaghetti to the bowl with the egg whites. Mix well so that all the strands are well coated. You may work with individual strands of spaghetti dredging each one into the dredging flour and getting it well coated before dropping it into the deep fryer. Or you may do what I did (this was not in Eric original recipe) and divide the noodles into two portions and form a nest shape of cooked noodles. Add each nest separately to the flour mixture and get it well coated with flour. Drop the entire nest into the oil and fry it until golden brown. Whichever method you choose, move the fried spaghetti to a paper towel lined plate to drain. Serve with the tomato sauce immediately. I liked the nest method because after adding the sauce the the center of the nest the chunky tomato stayed in the nest and the saucy liquid seeped out forming a pretty presentation.

Notes:

serves 2

Source: Eric Rivera Cooks