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Fried spaghetti? Well, why not?

Sara Moulton was one of the early celebrity chefs on Food Network, and the winning smile and easy screen presence explained why. But I never tried any of her recipes, until MT and I recently happened upon an episode of Week Night Meals on Create TV (regular readers know we only have over-the-air channels, dropping cable nearly a decade ago). She made pork with an olive sauce and this dish (spoiler alert, I tried both, so, guess what recipe is up next).

Officially, Sara calls for using fideos, but thin spaghetti works great, and we tend to keep a lot of it around. (Whole wheat, of course. It is MT’s kitchen, after all).

You can buy a can of marinara sauce, but Sara’s homemade version using canned tomatoes is so easy it makes sense to just whip some up. She says to use canned plum tomatoes, preferably fire-roasted, but I just grabbed two cans of fire-roasted chopped tomatoes. I also used a hand masher on them after cooked, just to make the sauce a tad smoother.

This was the first time I ever used chorizo in a concoction. It adds some kick but we didn’t find it overly hot. I’ll be using it in the future, I’m sure. In fact, I had four links and the recipe called for two, so I used the other two in an off-the-cuff sausage, potato and frozen peas meal.

I include Sara’s “Speedy Marinara” and garlic mayonnaise recipes, not just because they are quick and flavorful. They can complement many other recipes.

We really enjoyed this. Good thing, because the recipe makes generous servings (supposedly four, but I’m betting you could sate six). If you’re cooking for two, you may want to halve it the first try, just in case you don’t find it as tasty as we did.

Dobru Chut!

Fideos and shrimp (Sara Moulton)

1 pound peeled and deveined large shrimp

3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon minced garlic, divided

Kosher salt

8 ounces fideos, spaghettini or thin spaghetti, broken into 1 to 2-inch lengths

6 ounces Spanish chorizo, peeled, quartered lengthwise and sliced ¼-inch thick crosswise

1 cup finely chopped onion

1¾ cup Speedy Marinara Sauce (recipe below) or your favorite store-bought marinara

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon sweet or hot paprika

½ cup dry white wine

3 cups chicken broth

2 cups defrosted frozen peas

¾ cup garlic mayonnaise (recipe below)

Toss the shrimp with 1 tablespoon of the oil, 1 teaspoon of the garlic, and ¼ teaspoon salt in a bowl, cover and set aside.

Toss the fideos with 2 teaspoons of the remaining oil in a large broiler-safe skillet and toast the pasta over medium high heat, stirring frequently until the pasta is golden brown (be careful, burns quickly) about 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.

Add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil to the same skillet and heat over medium low heat. Add the chorizo and cook, stirring, 2-3 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to the bowl with the pasta and pour off and discard all but 3 tablespoons of the remaining oil in the skillet. Add the onion, increase the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally until golden about 10 minutes. Add the remaining garlic and cook, stirring, 1 minute.

Add the marinara sauce, bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is thick, about 4 minutes. Add the two paprikas and cook stirring for 1 minute. Add the pasta, the chorizo, the wine and chicken broth and bring the mixture to a boil. Turn on the broiler.

Simmer the pasta mixture, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Stir in the peas and simmer until the liquid is slightly thickened and the fideos are just al dente, about 3 to 5 minutes. Scatter the shrimp over the pasta and press them into the pasta to partially submerge. Transfer the skillet to the top shelf of the oven set about 4 inches from the heat and broil, until the shrimp are opaque and the top of the pasta is dry and crisped in spots, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Serve each portion topped with a spoonful of the garlic mayonnaise.

Garlic Mayonnaise Makes about ¾ cup

Combine: ¾ cup mayonnaise, 1 to 1½ teaspoons minced garlic, 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice,Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Speedy Marinara Sauce

Makes about 2½ cups

2 large garlic cloves, smashed

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Hefty pinch or two of red pepper flakes

1 (28-ounce) can plum tomatoes (preferably fire roasted), chopped

Kosher salt

In an unheated medium saucepan combine the garlic and the oil. Turn the heat to medium and cook, turning over the garlic several times, until it is just golden, 4 to 6 minutes. Add the red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes and a hefty pinch of salt, bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and cook at a brisk simmer until the sauce is reduced to about 2½ cups, 20 to 25 minutes.

Discard the garlic (ordinarily a culinary crime in my book, but it worked well in this). Season with kosher salt to taste.

A note from my “kreppe” recipe story, in which I welcomed any clarification on possible spellings for the fried dough treats. A caller with the same Slovak heritage I enjoy said her mother made the dessert (using powdered sugar instead of granulated) in their family and called it “ceregie.” Thanks!

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Fried pasta, sausage and shrimp? Yep, it works