mixed pasta in umami heaven.

Midweek dinner with friends post office is a super fun activity. What makes it an even more fun exercise, is pajamas! Yeah, pajamas are forgiving, but for this meal, pajamas talk about are carefree unwinding with a chilled beer on the side. The only most important thing to be adhered to as the thumb rule is a simple and almost one pot recipe. The host tired after day's work needs to unwind and rest her tired feet & not spend all time cooped up in kitchen. Pasta though not the most healthy thing in the world, rather an abused entangle of gluten aka flour, is my all time favorite. I mean why not, when out of everyone it always steps up to make my life easier, with no subtraction on the pleasure quotient.

I followed a recipe from Jamie's Dinners, a book that I recently added to my cookbook collection,  the first of Jamie on my shelf. But I tweaked it during the quarantine period keeping in mind two major points: 1. Fridge cleaning raid, 2. Of course availability. The flavors intermingle to produce the best result filled with umami, an ode to the seventh sense that's yet to be described. Treat this to the people who matter the most, only to escalate your position more in their life. Honestly, i have eaten this atleast a dozen time till now, only to fall in love with it even more. What makes it my go-to staple is the fact tat it doesn't call for trips to the supermarket, it's ore like throw in all that ypu have at home. And now is you allow, let's head to the kitchen.

1. Boil 200 gm pasta in salted water. I used a mix of Spaghetti and Penne pasta.
2. Chop up 100 gm of spiced pork sausage and marinate in some chili pickle, dash of vinegar and shopped parsley.
3. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a pan and add 3 dry red chilies, snipped+ 3 cloves of garlic finely chopped + 3 anchovy fillets+ 4-5 chopped capers (rinsed thoroughly). The anchovies are going to mingle and disappear in the hot oil in a jiffy.

4. Once the aroma of garlic takes over, add in the chopped and marinated sausages and cook for a few minutes on medium high flame.

5. The sausages will get tarnished and once they start disintegrating in the hot pan add in 150 gm chopped tomatoes and about half of chopped red bell-pepper. Mix well. Cover and cook till tomato disintegrates and bell-pepper softens.
6. Add in about 6-7 sliced black olives in the pan and stir to mix.

7. Take the pasta off the hob and drain, reserving a a cup of water.
8. Once the tomato and bell-pepper  comes around, add in the pasta and half of the reserved water and mix, I generally use two ladles at this time to combine pasta and the sausage tomato mix.
9. Cook till the water disappears, and the sauce coat the strands and ridges of the pasta. Add in a handful of chopped parsley, a small handful of Parmesan and give a good mix.
10. Ready to be served piping hot, Well, I often eat it out of the pan!!

There are no tricks involved in this simple dish as such, but yes it's mandatory to keep the pasta water in mind, only then can each and every strand coat themselves well in the existing juices in the pan. The pasta water works as the vehicle or the adhesive in other words, making the entire eating experience a pleasure run. Let's face it, no one, I repeat no one will like a mouthful of dry pasta ever.

Absolutely, you are correct in thinking of this as a quarantine recipe. It is! Just that instead of the others depicting only need and availability, this takes more about how humble ingredients can come together and form a pleasure bond. They sat Italian food draws attention the food sand the cook, this certainly is a fine example of that. Tiling & sweating in the kitchen is certainly a turn off!. 

 Try this and thank me, once your senses start screaming for more!!

                                                                       #stayhome #staysafe!!