My favorite recipe for spaghetti with ketchup

My favorite recipe for spaghetti with ketchup

When I was a kid I was always told: don’t play with that food and eat it! Until I found out that spaghetti with ketchup is a food you can play with and eat at the same time.

Spaghetti with ketchup is a brilliant food. You can eat it every day, all year round. Even several times a day. You can have it with an egg or just with garlic and chilli

“This casual guide must prepare you for everything you’ll encounter in your motorhoming life.”

So there must be at least one luxurious recipe for spaghetti with ketchup.

Everyone should have their favourite colour. I don’t have one, but I do have my favourite recipe for spaghetti with ketchup. I could eat it every day. I don’t know why, but the Italians call this dish Spaghetti alle vongole.

“I write the recipe in extreme detail and semi-simply, so you can cook it without stress.”

This recipe for spaghetti with ketchup is extremely simple and only a few ingredients go into it. The total preparation time is roughly half an hour.

What you need

For 4 people you need the following ingredients:

  1. 1kg of mussels “vongole”
  2. 400g quality spaghetti
  3. 1 clove of garlic
  4. 0.5l of good quality white wine
  5. 1 bunch of parsley
  6. salt
  7. ground black pepper
  8. good quality extra virgin olive oil

Get these kitchen tools ready:

  1. Large pasta pot with strainer
  2. A large pot, wok, or taller pan that will fit your vongole and cooked spaghetti and make it easy to toss the spaghetti with the ketchup
  3. A cutting board, called a denko.
  4. Kitchen knife
  5. A pocket knife
  6. Soup ladle

Try to buy better quality spaghetti, it may cost a euro more, but it’s worth it. Similarly with olive oil. Buy good quality, spaghetti with ketchup will take on a whole new dimension.

Everything except the vongoli I assume you normally have in your motorhome. So if you go to the market or the store, buy washed vongols. Any fish shop can wash them for you on the spot. They dump them in a little washing machine and wash them for about 5 minutes. It gets all the sand out of them that you would otherwise have on your plate.

If you don’t have washed vongole, you have to get rid of the sand first. This is done by soaking the vongole in salt water for 2-3 hours, stirring them now and then. You must not leave them in fresh water, they will suffocate. If you don’t have salty sea water, use fresh water and add salt to it. But it’s a useless fuss, buy washed ones instead.

Cooking procedure

Preparation before cooking (takes about 5min):

  1. Clean your garlic cloves.
  2. Wash the parsley, tear off the leaves and chop finely with a knife.
  3. Weigh 400g of pasta.
  4. Pour 0.5dl of wine into a glass to go into the cooking and 1.25dl of wine into a glass for you.
  5. Prepare your plates and set the table.

Water for the spaghetti (takes approx 5mins):

  1. Put the water to boil in the pasta pot.
  2. Once the water for the bombs is boiling, add a tablespoon of salt to the water.
  3. Start preparing the sauce.

Cooking the sauce (duration approx 5min):

  1. Add olive oil to the sauce pot and lightly fry a whole garlic clove in it. It takes about 2-3 minutes, just don’t let the garlic burn.
  2. Add a little ground black pepper to the oil.
  3. Add the vongole.
  4. Stir them with a spoon.
  5. When all the vongole have opened, add the wine.
  6. Turn off the burner under the sauce pot.

Cook the spaghetti (duration approx. 9min):

  1. Add the spaghetti to the spaghetti sauce pot.
  2. Cook the spaghetti for 2 minutes less than what is written on the bag, usually 9 minutes.
  3. Stir the spaghetti occasionally to keep it from sticking.
  4. Drain the cooked spaghetti.

Finish the meal (duration approx. 2min):

  1. Turn on a strong flame under the sauce pot.
  2. Add the cooked spaghetti.
  3. If not much water has come out of the wongol, add about half a tablespoon scoop of water from the spaghetti.
  4. Stir gently so you don’t break the spaghetti. Simmer for about 1-2 minutes. The final spaghetti should be al dente. Feel free to take one out and taste.
  5. Add the parsley and turn off the heat.
  6. Add 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil and gently stir again.

Serving

Serving the dish (duration approx. 1min):

  1. Serve the spaghetti with the whole vongole on a plate.
  2. Place a bowl of cleaned mussels in the centre of the table.
  3. The dish is fantastic with the chilled white wine you used in the cooking.
  4. The pasta is eaten as soon as it’s cooked through. The Italians say that the guest should wait for the spaghetti with ketchup and not the spaghetti with ketchup for the guest! ?

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