Someone is in your house, expecting to eat. Problem : the meal you had planned is either leftovers or not enough to feed unexpected guests. Ordering takeout isn’t an option, so you have to cook something else. Now think. It needs to be cooked fast because you’re all hungry. You don’t want to spend too much time in the kitchen because, well, you have guests. It needs to be good enough so everybody can leave your house well fed and happy. So, what do you cook?
In the Philippines, I’ve found myself many times with unexpected guests at meal time. I hated the pressure every time it happened. I don’t really cook Filipino food, and where I live, people are skeptical towards unknown/foreign food, and I don’t want to disappoint them.
One day I came across a great recipe. It was super tasteful and super quick to make. And also, it’s made with ingredients that can be easily stocked for a long time. I thought it would be great as an emergency recipe, so the next time I had unplanned guests over, I decided to try my theory. Was this the perfect emergency meal ? Yes, it was ! Filipino loved it, and my French self also. It requires minimal preparation and only requires 10 or 15 minutes to cook.
Now, I will let you in on my secret. I found this recipe on the Jow app, here it is (you can read this post to learn more about the Jow app).
But here in the Philippines, I can’t find all the ingredients for it, so I have my own version of it. So you can either use the recipe directly from Jow or stay here and take a look at my modified version. I will add my comments and modifications in italic.
ONE POT SPICY RIGATONI
INGREDIENTS
| 400g Rigatoni pasta | -> Any kind of medium big pasta will do. My favourite are Penne Rigate. |
| 280g frozen green peas | -> Peas in can works great also. In France you usually find them in jar, I prefer this as they’re softer, but I haven’t found jarred vegetables in the Philippines. |
| 2 shallots | -> We don’t have shallots here, I use red onions. |
| 600g arrabbiata pasta sauce | -> Again, we don’t have this here so I just use regular tomato sauce (the one that’s not sweet, Del Monte Original Taste works great in my opinion) and I add chili pepper for the spiciness. Keep in mind this recipe needs to be at least a little spicy to taste great. |
| 4tbsp heavy cream | -> I was so confused about the different names for cream in English. It’s not exactly the same as what you can find in France, but so far I like Magnolia All Purpose Cream. |
| 160g parmesan | -> Fortunately, I was able to find real grated Parmesan here, it was life-saving. But I don’t use as much as stated in the original recipe because it’s expensive. I sprinkle maybe 50g and I bring the pack to the table so everyone can adjust to their taste. |
| 1 chicken bouillon cube | -> Knorr, you know what to do here, nothing fancy. |
| 150g of tuna | -> I add this for protein and to make big eaters more satisfied. It goes well with the rest. |
| A little bit of butter to cook the shallots | -> I rarely have butter available so I just use oil. In France we usually cook either with olive or sunflower oil. This kind of oil is too expensive here so I use palm/vegetable cooking oil. |
| Black pepper and salt |
INSTRUCTIONS
- Peel the onion or shallots. If you’re adding a whole chili pepper, chop that too.
- Add some butter or the oil to a big saucepan (it needs to be big enough to contain everything all at once). Once it’s hot, add the shallots/onions. Cook until transparent. If your stove is fast heating, it won’t take long, be careful not to burn it.
- Add the raw pasta, the tomato sauce, the bouillon cube, chili if you need it (either fresh, flakes or powdered), black pepper and 250 ml of water/pers. Personally I also add the peas at this step so they can thaw if they’re frozen, or get softer if they came in can.
- Once it’s boiling, reduce the heat, cover the saucepan and let everything simmer for 10-12 minutes. The original recipe says to add water if needed but I’ve never had that problem.
- After 10-12 minutes, if it looks like there’s too much water remaining, let it cook without the lid for a few more minutes.
- Once the pasta is cooked, add the tuna, the heavy cream and the parmesan. Mix everything well and serve.
And boom, just like that, you’ve made a nutritious meal that’s guaranteed to make everyone happy. And you didn’t spend your life in the kitchen (or your life savings). It’s a win – win – win situation. Let me know in the comments how it went after you’ve tried it.
