Spicy Spaghetti

Hi Everyone!

In the last post i mentioned a recipe i tried from La Tartine Gourmande. Well, here it is! I hope you enjoy it as much as i did!

Ingredients:

4 large ripe tomatoes
sea salt and pepper
4 tbs olive oil
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
zest and juice of 1 large lime
3 lemon thyme twigs (it is important that you use twigs and not just the leaves)
1 small habanero pepper, seeds removed and diced
**this made the dish a bit too spicy, i recommend half a habanero if you have a sensitive palette.
2 tsp light muscavo sugar (brown sugar worked just as well)
1 bay leaf
12 oz spaghetti
4 packed cups of arugula (you can substitute this with spinach)
2 tbs roughly chopped basil
parmesan cheese to top

Directions:

Blanch the tomatoes in salted boiling water for 1 min. Wait, what? what is blanching? I had to google this and it is basically leaving the tomatoes in boiling water long enough to soften and peel the skin off. Don't leave it in longer than 1min though, it will make chopping the tomato tougher.. and a mess. After 1min, rinse them under cold water, peel, core and slice.

In a wok (i used a pan), heat 2 tbs of olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, lime zest, lemon thyme, and chile and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add tomatoes, sugar, and bay leaf and season with sea salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 15min, stirring occasionally until the tomatoes have soften.

In the meantime, cook the spaghetti as usual and later transfer to a bowl and add the remaining 2 tbs of olive oil.

Add the pasta and arugula to the wok. Remove from heat and toss until the arugula is wilted from the heat of the spaghetti (if you use spinach, add the spinach BEFORE you add the pasta and allow to cook with the sauce for a couple of minutes and then remove from heat and add the pasta). Discard the bay leaf and lemon thyme twigs and add lime juice and basil.

Serve in a bowl and top with parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper if necessary.

This recipe was delicious! A very light, summery sauce perfect with a glass of sparkling lemonade! You can also top with some prosciutto or other meat if you'd like. I added pan seared tilapia to mine the next day when i ate the left overs.