Grown-Up SpaghettiOs Adventure
Confession time: I love hotdogs. Oh, you mean just the best, right? No, I love all kinds of hotdogs — the ones that win taste tests and the ones few would recognize. Grilled franks in the summer, the free hotdogs given out for a customer appreciation day, even tofu dogs.
Hotdogs held a special place in my heart as a kid and they’re still a treat, which is why they’re figuring into this grown-up SpaghettiOs business. To be clear, the canned pasta was not really a staple, but adding some cut up hotdogs did make it sorta special.
When I came across Deb Perelman’s promising recipe on Smitten Kitchen for quick pasta and chickpeas made with familiar-looking circular pasta called annellini, my first thought was that it needed a slight upgrade. Serendipitously, I’d bought some chicken hotdogs — the organic fancy kind, in case that matters.
After a run at the original recipe, I agreed with the commenters who said that it made too little. Doubling seemed the way to go. One person advised using regular tomato paste — save the concentrated tube for other dishes. Bumping up the tomato flavor didn’t hurt.
After searching fruitlessly for annellini, I got store brand ditalini. Grating Parmesan on top to serve was another good suggestion. If you have other white canned beans such as cannellini, those should be a fine substitution for the chickpeas.
Guillaume, who does not share my childlike enthusiasm for hotdogs and has never tasted SpaghettiOs, gamely agreed to have this pasta dish for dinner. I paired it with an Australian shiraz and Ina Garten’s addictive roasted Brussels sprouts. We both cleaned our bowls.
Despite the easy recipe, simmering it in a shallow pan did produce occasional volcanic eruptions of sauce. Similar messes happened before while reducing tomato sauces. This time, I made the handy discovery that a splatter guard can be effective here.
Sort of Grown-Up SpaghettiOs
Serves 4
4 Tbsp. olive oil
3 large cloves garlic
1 small can tomato paste
2 tsp. kosher salt, plus more to taste
Freshly ground black pepper and red pepper flakes, to taste
2 cans cooked chickpeas, 15 oz. each
1 C. uncooked ditalini pasta or another small hollow shape
4 – 6 hotdogs, cut into rounds (a mild chicken flavor worked nicely)
4 C. boiling water
To serve:
3 to 4 Tbsp. olive oil (estimate 1 Tbsp. per serving)
1 large clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 – 2 tsp. minced fresh rosemary
Salt and red pepper flakes
Parmesan cheese
Rinse and drain the chickpeas. Peel and mince 3 cloves of garlic. Put 2 teaspoons of salt, a generous amount of red pepper flakes (I used about 1 teaspoon for a nice kick), and some freshly ground black pepper in a small bowl. Start boiling 4 cups of water in a medium pot. Mince the rosemary. Peel and finely chop 1 clove of garlic for finishing. Cut the hotdogs into rounds.
In a large pan, heat 4 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat until it shimmers. Add 3 minced garlic cloves and cook, stirring, until it becomes barely browned but very fragrant. Stir in the tomato paste and seasonings, cooking them with the garlic for about 30 seconds.
Add the chickpeas, boiling water, and dry pasta. Stir to scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pot and incorporate the paste. Lower the heat and simmer until the pasta is cooked and a lot of the liquid has been absorbed, about 20 minutes. Cover with a splatter guard if needed. Stir occasionally for even cooking. Taste the pasta for doneness and adjust seasoning if desired.
While the pasta is simmering, put a little drizzle of olive oil into a medium sauté pan along with a pinch of the minced rosemary. Heat over medium and then add the hotdog pieces, turning until evenly brown. Slide them into a bowl and set them aside. Keep the pan handy.
Once the pasta is done, pull it off the heat and cover with a lid. In the sauté pan used for the hotdogs, heat 3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the chopped garlic clove, rosemary, a few pinches of salt and some pepper flakes until sizzling. Pull it off the heat as soon as the garlic begins to change color.
Spoon the pasta into bowls, add a portion of hotdog pieces, grate some Parmesan over the top (or sprinkle on grated Parmesan), and drizzle with some of the flavored oil to serve. Leftovers can be refrigerated. Just put individual servings of the pasta in containers topped with the hotdogs and the oil. Reheat and then finish with cheese.
