Capellini is my favorite pasta. It's like vermicelli and sometimes called Angel hair pasta. A thinner version of spaghetti, I prefer Capellini over most other pastas. I have used the brand Delallo, and the recipe that follows is the simplest with minimal ingredients. Without a lot of work you can still have the satisfaction of having cooked something from scratch. If that matters to you, rest assured this recipe does just that!
Ingredients:
Capellini - 150 gms, 4-5 Oz
Onions - 1 medium
Garlic - about 5 cloves (2 Tbspn)
Tomato on vine - 3 large
Sweet Basil dry - 1 tspn
Mushrooms - 10 nos
Paparika - 1 tspn
Black Pepper - to taste
Sugar - 1 tspn
Salt - to taste
Olive Oil - 2 1/2 Tbspn
Cheese - Parmesan or Romano (I used a combination of these two with Asiago)
Method:
1. Cook capellini al dente
2. Blanch tomato (I boiled tomato immersed in water, once the skin started tearing away I switched off the flame, let it cool, peeled and diced the tomato)
3. Heat 2 Tbspn oil in a pan and add chopped onions and saute, when translucent add garlic and saute till you get the aroma of garlic cooking
4. Add paparika and basil closely followed, so as to avoid burning, with tomato
5. Check taste and add the sugar if its too acidic and salt to balance the flavors. The measurement given for sugar maybe reduced or added on as per taste
6. Saute mushrooms in half tablespoon oil, salt and pepper as you like and drop this into the sauce
7. Add the Capellini into the sauce, mix and serve hot.
8. Top with cheese and enjoy
Notes:
1. You may dress up the pasta with olives or other vegetables you like. I some times also add cooked sausage which changes the dimensions completely and being a meat love enjoy it very much.
2. Without the cheese I cannot say too much about this sauce. But even a sprinkle of cheese adds to the flavor. If you only have Parmesan handy that will work well.
Contributor: Sunitha