Spaghetti with Hotdogs

A childhood favourite and probably one of the first recipes I made on my own!
While watching an episode of the Big Band Theory I was shocked to hear that it's Sheldon Cooper's favourite meal too,  he mentioned wanting spaghetti with little slices of hotdogs in it  ^_^

This is such a tasty recipe for all ages but kids love it!





As always we do things from scratch around here (but don't let that discourage you because it is as easy as 1-2-3, or opening a jar of premade sauce!)

- 1 pack hotdogs (one large frankfurter per person or two per person of the smaller hotdogs) 

- 2 tbsp plain oil
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3/4 jar passata (italian strained tomato puree)  

(OR use a can of whole tomato, strain from liquid and puree until it's a smooth tomatoy sauce) 

- Salt & Pepper to taste

- 1 tbsp sugar (I use coconut sugar to keep it healthy)

- 2 cloves garlic, just crushed

-1 slice of green bell pepper (optional, it adds a nice flavour if simmered in the pasta sauce and removed later)

Chop your hotdogs into rings, I used shopsys all beef. Place saucepan on heat with oil, sautee hotdog rings on both sides until golden. 

Remove and set aside. 

Now in the same saucepan over medium high heat add olive oil, crushed garlic and let it sautee until fragrant a few seconds (don't let the garlic burn!). Add in your passata (it's an italian pureed tomato that comes in a tall glass jar)  Sautee on medium heat in the oil until it smells good, this is to get the sugars caramelizing in the tomato and remove that "raw" flavour.  

Cover at this stage with a lid because it will splatter all over your kitchen.  It takes about 3 minutes.

Season sauce with salt and pepper, add sugar and piece of green bell pepper (optional) 

Now cover and simmer on low until your pasta water is boiled and you've boiled your pasta too.  

Spaghetti (cook enough according to person's and directions)

Strain and keep some of the pasta water, add the pasta back into the pot with the 1/3-1/2 cup pasta water and add your sauce + hotdogs    Let it heat for about 30 seconds on the same heat you were boiling the pasta then cover, turn heat off and let it stand until it meddles (about 3 minutes - Can straighten up the kitchen at this point and get the plates out)

Now serve and enjoy! It doesn't need any cheese or anything, perfect as is!

Seafood Spaghetti with crispy garlic breadcrumb topping

There is something so satisfying about enjoying a fabulous lunch and knowing that it was whipped up entirely of leftovers.  This sort of food really excites me.

This dish came together from the leftover mussels I had steamed over the weekend, you can check out my easy saffron steamed mussels here and all that goodness that went into the original recipe like saffron, garlic, tomato, and stock got tossed with a fresh batch of boiled spaghetti and then just to take things to another level I sprinkled some of this crispy homemade garlic bread crumbs over top  (also made from leftover) 

To make the bread crumbs: 

Add some bread to the processor and  pulse until it's fine.  (Pulse a clove of garlic with it until it * disappears*)

I used the most unexpected bread that I had in the fridge from the night before, those large wheat flatbreads that come with the Afghan grilled Tikka and Rice dish from the restaurant.   Really did not know where it was going to go but other than spongy white "Bread" (toast bread, wonderbread? I don't eat this stuff, not even sure why it's in my fridge) I had nothing else on hand. 

Fortunately for me the Afghan flatbread was truly fabulous and crisped up beautifully when added to the sautee pan  with olive oil.

The smell from the kitchen was just amazing while toasting up these breadcrumbs.

Anyway, onto the pasta.  Other than the sautee pan it's a one pot meal (If I started out by using the saucepan to toast the breadcrumbs before stewing the sauce it would have truly been a one pot meal)

The sauce just requires a brief cooking of the tomato sauce with some olive oil and a clove of garlic on medium high with the lid on tight.  This will caramelize the small amount of tomato puree very quickly.  Once that smells lovely transfer into a bowl.

Now the kettle water is added to the pot with lots of salt (does not even have to be cleaned/wiped) and the spaghetti is boiled. 

Towards the end of the cooking time I strain the pasta, leaving behind about 2 tbsp of the starchy water and add in the sauce/liquid from the Mussels and let the pasta just suck up all that delicious goodness.

Now all that's left is to toss in those mussels to heat up and then all is added to the tomato sauce and plated.

Garlicy crispy bread goes over top and I'm ready to dig in! 

Crispy bread crumbs :

2 slices of bread

1 small- medium clove garlic

Couple of tbsp of olive oil

Salt 

Pulse bread and garlic until resembles fine crumbs and garlic.  Heat a sautee pan with some olive oil, add crumbs and brown on medium/medium high until toasted.  Season with salt to taste and once they are crisp set aside. 

Sprinkle over pasta or salad, whatever your heart desires!