MANILA, Philippines — You love pasta, but you always like to inject Pinoy taste — ingredients, cooking style, finishing touches — into whatever you come up with.
Mama Sita’s marketing executive and weekend kitchen warrior Ces Nepomuceno-Gamad also enjoys experimenting in her kitchen, particularly with pasta dishes, because she finds pasta to be a versatile ingredient that goes very well with different kinds of ingredients.
It agrees with Filipino flavors and the fresh ingredients that you harvest or buy straight from the market.
She finds lots of garlic and tomatoes and simply pairs them with canned anchovies to create a full-bodied pasta dish she calls Garlic, Kamatis and Anchovies Pasta.
Garlic, Kamatis and Anchovies Pasta
Ingredients:
3 pcs. medium-sized kamatis (tomatoes), chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 strips anchovies (canned), with 1 tbsp. of its oil
Olive oil
200 grams cooked spaghetti
1 cup pasta water
1 tbsp. cream or yogurt (optional)
Procedure:
1. In a pot, boil water and cook pasta for about 8 minutes. Drain and set aside a cup of pasta water.
2. In a pan, drizzle a little anchovy oil, and use to sauté garlic until aromatic. Add in chopped kamatis. Cook over medium heat until tomatoes soften.
3. Add in strips of anchovies and more olive oil. Let it come together until somewhat browned.
4. Stir in cooked spaghetti together with pasta water. Let it reduce a little bit.
5. Add in cream or yogurt to make it creamier.
*Makes 2 to 3 servings.