I ambled through my front door at about 8:30 the other night. Having spent the past 2 ours commuting, and having just walked the 25 minutes home from the bus station, I was cold and achy and tired and hungry. But I was in no condition, mentally or emotionally, to prepare dinner.
"Why can't I just open a can of Spaghetti-O's with Sliced Franks, or something...?" I moaned. Oh yeah, I don't have any Spaghetti-O's because I hate that stuff.
I used to looooove Spaghetti-O's when I was a kid, but, I tried a can a few years ago and it was godawful. I wanted some Spaghetti-O's with Sliced Franks that tasted as good to me now as they did 30 years ago. So I made some!
I heated up some pasta sauce in a saucepan (I usually make my own, but being so short on layin' around time lately, I bought some Newman's Own "Sockarooni" sauce. It's pretty good stuff considering that it comes out of a jar.)
In another large saucepan I boiled a sliced hot dog and some rigatoni for about 12 minutes.
I drained the dog/rigatoni in the colander and grabbed my vegetable slicer.
The slicer looks kinda like a garlic press, only it's about 4 times larger and slices.
(It's great for slicing mushrooms and plum tomatoes and hard-boiled eggs and stuff.)
Using a pair of salad tongs I then loaded the slicer with rigatoni (about 5 or six at a time), held it above the pan of simmering pasta sauce and pressed. Out popped a mound of 1/4 inch thick home-made "Spaghetti-O's"!
After slicing all the rigatoni (it took about 5 minutes) I stirred in the sliced franks. A few dashes of Texas Pete's Cayene Pepper Sauce, and a few more seconds of simmering, and I was ready for some chow.
And it was gooooooooooooood! Without having to chew up them big ol' full-sized rigatoni logs, I was able to shovel it in with abandon. Mmmmmmm.
Posted by Tuning Spork at January 17, 2004 07:34 PMKind of reminds me of the homemade beanie weenie I make. I use Bush's Baked Beans, and simmer the sliced hot dog for a long time so it absorbs the yummy bean flavor...
Posted by: Susie at January 18, 2004 12:29 AMSpaghettio's was my favorite food growing up, but it's way too sweet and starchy now. I know my tastes have changed, but I'm pretty sure the recipe has too. When did they decide to add the 'tin' flavor?
Posted by: Ted at January 18, 2004 09:59 AMTexas Pete's or some similar potion scoring high on the Scovill scale is the secret to making anything eadible.
Posted by: StMack at January 18, 2004 08:32 PMOT-you've been redecorating. :-) Spiffy.
Posted by: Jennifer at January 18, 2004 09:16 PM