Fried Eggs, Red Pepper Flakes, Garlic, And Herbs Pasta

When I'm looking to cook a relatively easy meal with a little bit of pizazz, I often cook this recipe that I found on (the totally awesome) seasaltwithfood.com.

She lists the ingredients as:

1 lb Spaghetti or any long pasta
3 Tbsp Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
2 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
2 Large Garlic Cloves, thinly sliced
4 Large Eggs
Coarse or Maldon Sea Salt to taste
Crushed Hot Red Pepper Flakes to taste
½ Cup Freshly Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano plus additional as an accompaniment
¼ Cup Minced Fresh Parsley
1 Tbsp Minced Fresh Oregano or Sage Normally

I change/add a couple things - I leave out the parsley and add green onions. Sometimes I use dried herbs, but ground up really fine - sometimes i use basil and rosemary. The red pepper flakes I usually change out for red chili flakes. Any sort of spice would work here, even a dash of sambal olek (I am seriously addicted to sambal olek lately).

Put the water on to boil and cook the spaghetti (or angel hair or linguine or whatever). I find mise en place to be pretty important in this dish, So I get everything together and laid out while the water is boiling. It's better to have your spaghetti done too early, rather than too late. Drain when al dente.

Once everything is in place and the spaghetti is cooking, add the oil/butter to the pan and fry up your eggs. It's best to do it basting with the butter and not flipping them. The important part is leaving the yolks runny. Once they are done, Toss some cheese and red pepper flakes on the tops and set them off to the side.

Here's where I differ a little from recipe - in the oil left in the pan, add your seasonings and herbs and garlic, fry 'em up for 30 seconds until fragrant, then add your drained pasta and toss it in the oil and spices for a minute or two. Portion the spaghetti up, add more cheese, put the eggs on top, and serve. When you break the yolk, it combines with the oil and seasonings to make a great, nearly dry pasta sauce.

This is normally a summer dish, but two days ago it was 71 degrees here, so I'm in a summer frame of mind.

Fried Noodles

I love Japanese pan noodles at http://www.noodles.com/food/ in Lafayette CO. I found a recipe for fried noodles on page 172 of Charmaine Solomon's The Complete Asian Cookbook. But I didn't have celery or prawns or peanut oil or red chilies or... So I adapted. Here's what I made:

8 oz pad thai rice noodles

1 lb ground pork

lard

2T Sambal Olek Red Chili Paste

1 onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic

3 medium carrots, thinly sliced

2T oyster sauce

Salt & Pepper

Light soy sauce to taste

Soak rice noodles for 30 minutes in cold water. Cook in boiling salted water until soft but firm (I severely overcooked mine in about 3 minutes). Cool noodles quickly.

Saute onions, garlic & carrots in lard until carrots are half cooked.

Add pork.

When pork is nearly cooked drain if necessary and add oyster sauce and sambal olek. Cook a few more minutes to blend flavors.

Toss with noodles in pan and serve immediately.

Really delicious! Good blend of fishiness, salty soy, and spicy chili. Next time, to make it more varied and a little more healthy, I would add more veggies and use leaner meat (like shrimp or other seafood). Wouldn't hurt to use peanut oil.