RECIPE: Sauerkraut Spaghetti

Weird-o food experiment of the month… and it’s a surprisingly good combination. Really.

Ingredients

• Angelhair spaghetti, one whole pack
• 1 x large onion
• 1 x rasher bacon
• 1 x clove garlic (a big one, don’t skimp)
• 1 x splash of good cooking oil
• 1 x tin chopped tomatoes
• a splash of water
• 1 x tin corn kernels
• 1 x tin sauerkraut
• pepper, oregano, hot paprika, salt, a touch of sugar
• 125-300mL sour cream
• a handful of freshly grated mature cheddar cheese
• freshly grated parmesan cheese

Method

1. Set a pot of water on the stove, and get it heating to a rolling boil. By the time it’s fully boiling, your sauce will be nearly done.

2. Slice the onion finely and roughly chop the bacon. Throw these into a hot frying pan with a bit of oil. I prefer rice bran oil, but am currently using some dodgy cheap-arse olive oil… Just make sure that even if your oil is cheap, that it is good: this means no blended crap full of GM canola.

3. While the onion and bacon are cooking, drain and thoroughly rinse the sauerkraut. Rinse, rinse, rinse! Get all that crappy tin stuff off, and get as much of the juice out of it as you can. Unless you want your spaghetti super-tangy, that is. 😛

4. Throw in the onion when the bacon and onion are starting to crisp up on the edges. Then add your garlic and the tin of tomatoes. Add about 1/3 of a tin of water to the mix – enough to rinse out the inside of the tin. Then throw in the corn, and scatter in some cracked black pepper, your hot paprika (as much as you want), a scattering of salt, and a pinch of sugar.

5. Mix this all together thoroughly, then add the sour cream. I used roughly 125mL of sour cream, but I wished that I’d had the full container of 300mL. If you have a full container’s worth, brilliant. If you don’t, it won’t matter, but it won’t be as nice. That is, so I imagine, not having made it with the full amount.

6. By this stage your water should be done, so put in the entire pack of spaghetti. This will make tons, plus give you leftovers. Cheap cooking is all about two or three meals off one stint of cooking, so don’t worry if there is a lot left after you’ve eaten.

7. Turn your sauce right down, to minimum. Make sure the sour cream is properly dispersed. At this stage, taste it and adjust your seasonings as necessary. It’s also a good point to grate some cheese (about a handful) and throw that in to cook down.

8. Angelhair pasta takes 3-5 minutes maximum to cook. When it’s done, drain it well and put it back into the pot, in a rough 2:1 ratio to your sauce. You might want to leave some out and save it separately.

9. Put the sauce in on top of your spaghetti and, over a warm element, mix and mash it through. The spaghetti ought to be fairly well covered with your sauce.

10. Serve on a plate on its own (or maybe with a salad, if you have the time or wherewithal), topped with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

11. Have fun with variations! VEGETARIAN: Leave the bacon out. VEGAN: Leave out the bacon, cream, and cheese, and maybe add some soft tofu and nutritional yeast.

12. After you’ve eaten, log back on here and leave a comment. It’s a weird food combination, but it works. Right?