One of the more famous blog posts here is my tomato cream pasta recipe (an absolutely no fail recipe, if you ask me), which is quite funny because I don't even love the stuff nor do I like making pasta that much. I find it a little easy and a little less challenging. Since I am yet to win my battle with slow-cooking beef brisket (the last time I did it, it took me 2 whole hours only to admit defeat and transfer everything to the pressure cooker for another hour and half), I've decided I'd just share another favorite pasta recipe, one that is quite as delicious as tomato cream but is definitely a lot deadlier.
Happy Easter, my darlings. Have a heart-stopping aligue pasta (pasta in sauteed crab fat or crab roe)! :) There are many ways of preparing this particular dish, off the top of my head are three specific suggestions:
1. Aligue pasta with shrimp and squid (always a winner!)
2. Aligue pasta oozing with toasted garlic bits
3. Aligue pasta with cream and other seafood bits from mussels to crab meat! (this one I have never tried nor do I have plans of trying, because when done repeatedly, this a death sentence waiting to happen)
My version works with fresh ingredients, a lot of lime or calamansi, freshly chopped tomatoes and basil. I find that the sweetness of the fresh basil and the tart acidity of freshly chopped tomatoes cuts through the heavy sauce. I sometimes add cheese in the end but only on very rare occasions, such as right now. Let's get to work!
For this recipe, you’ll need:
Spaghetti noodles (I used half of a 450g pack)
4 medium-sized tomatoes, chopped (Summer is a good season to work with tomatoes, they're juicier and plumper)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 of a red onion (or white, whatever works), minced
a fourth of a small bottle of crab fat (about three heaping tablespoons)
juice of 2 calamansi pieces (Do not include the seeds, duh!)
Freshly torn sweet basil
salt and pepper to taste
a tablespoon or two of olive oil (EVOO is a waste of money)
Some cheese if you're like me (Well, actually, I had a huge block of parmegiano regiano from an aunt based in Italy that has been sitting on the freezer for so long. So, I just shaved and shaved slivers of cheese over mine. Bake or heat for 5 minutes until it melts! Oooh, sin.)
Instructions:
Cook pasta as directed, drain and set aside.
In a pan, saute garlic and onion in olive oil over low heat until fragrant and brown (the garlic, the onions will turn transparent). Add the crab fat paste and then add the juice of the calamansi. Bring to a simmer. Toss in the cooked pasta and season with salt and pepper to taste. Throw in your chopped tomatoes (FRESH!) and your torn basil leaves. Mix and serve! Top with parmesan cheese. (I like topping mine and then popping it in the microwave to melt the cheese.) You can add whatever you want, from sliced black olives, chopped bell peppers, sun dried tomatoes, even capers! Your choice. For an extra layer of taste and texture, I added a few pieces of truly delicious yellow fin tuna belly on top of mine. Yum.
Yours in sin,
Reisha
