One night, after an evening of mirth, merriment, and alcoholic libations, I arrived home and decided that the snicky snacks I had as dinner weren’t enough for the night; so I was faced with the question (which we have all had): what can I make to eat with what I have in my refrigerator?
Necessity is the mother of invention, kittens! And since I am so clever and resourceful I came up with a tasty treat that I could make with what I did have on hand (since I always have the ingredients for a Caesar Salad in my fridge): Drunken Caesar Pasta!
These are the ingredients (add everything to whatever level of flavors you enjoy):
- pasta (I used penne)
- 1 egg
- red pepper flakes
- fresh parsley
- anchovy paste
- garlic paste
- Parmesan cheese
- garlic paste
- Worcestershire sauce
- black pepper
- lemon juice
- Crystal Hot Sauce (or whatever hot sauce you like. But seriously, it should be Crystal)
Basically, do what you would for a Caesar dressing and mix everything but the pasta in a bowl (no need to sautee because I used garlic paste and not actual garlic). Cook the pasta to directions. Reserve about 1/8 a cup to 1/4 a cup of pasta water–depending on how thin or thick you want the sauce to be. Drain the pasta. Put it back in the saucepan. Toss the mixed sauce in the pasta. Once served, top with a Parmesan, parsley, and black pepper.
It is spicy, savory, delicious, and filling. It’s basically a Carbonara/Caesar hybrid–but without the hassle of cooking bacon and onion. This is an easy (1 pot!) dish to do at the end of the night to get a little bit of carbs in you before you go to bed–or an excellent dish to make whenever you don’t know what to have for dinner and you don’t want to go to the supermarket.
Darlings, if you don’t have the garlic paste or anchovy paste in your fridge, I recommend that you get some. They are excellent ingredients to have in your arsenal.
And because this was supposed to be a Wiener Wednesday:
this looks delish. stupid question though….where do they hide the anchovy paste and the garlic paste in the supermarket?
Anchovy paste is right next to the canned anchovies. Garlic paste is typically in the Italian food aisle. You can also get tomato paste in a tube–which is a brilliant idea since so many recipes call for just a tablespoon or two.
Yum. That sounds delicious. Wish I’d seen this yesterday and I wouldn’t have gone for the default option of peanut butter on toast when I got home from a similar evening of mirth, merriment, alcoholic libations and snicky snacks. I have anchovy paste in my arsenal but shall get me some garlic paste too.