Today I will share with you a recipe that my mother used to make often: fried pasta. It’s not even a “proper recipe”, in the sense that the ingredients listed do not have precise proportions. You can kind of wing it, really. It is just a very clever way to use up leftover pasta with tomato sauce and turn it into a new, more exciting dish. One that everyone will look forward to eating… so much so that I sometimes make more pasta so that I can have some left to fry! I hate wasting food and that is why I love recipes like this one, that give a new life to leftovers, don’t you?
Fried Pasta
Fried Pasta - a very clever way to use up leftover pasta with tomato sauce and turn it into a new, more exciting dish!
Prep Time 2 minutes
Cook Time 8 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Ingredients
- Leftover pasta with tomato sauce
- Parmigiano Reggiano finely grated
- Breadcrumbs
- Extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
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Mix the leftover pasta with tomato sauce with some finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano and keep aside.
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Grease a non stick frying pan with some extra virgin olive oil and heat it on the stove.
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Press down well to compact it into a “pasta cake”.
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When the bottom has develop a nice crust, dust the top of the pasta with some more breadcrumbs and flip it over to fry the other side.
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Remove from the frying pan and serve immediately.
Hi Manu. I am a Sicilian born 77 year old man that is absolutely in love with your recipes. That is not to say that you aren’t worthy of my love. You are much too young for me to compare you to my beloved mother. She was a giant in my eyes with her inventiveness and expertise of making good food taste great. Even with leftovers. She had a knack for stretching what little food monies we had during and after the war that goes beyond believable. I was too young to realize how great of a woman she was in making her family feel satiated and content with what little she had to make ends meet. This is where you come in as a great person and cook. I can’t imagine that a young lady such as you is able to reproduce dishes that are reminiscent of my childhood in Sicily among my grandmother and aunts, especially during the holidays. Thank you very much for bringing back precious memories and of course, the many cherished forgotten dishes. Benedetto Di Gaudio.
Dear Benedetto (did you know that was my grandfather’s name? :-)), thank you so very much for your lovely words! You cannot begin to imagine how much they mean to me. To me, cooking is a way to reconnect with my roots and to relive and create new memories. I am so happy to have brought back happy memories of your loved ones. My dad always tells me how hard it was during the war and that my grandmother had to be very inventive to come up with recipes to feed the family. I know what you mean. 🙂 Many of the recipes on my blog – the Sicilian ones – have been passed down to me from my parents, grandparents and even great grandparents! So they are really special ones for me too. 🙂 I hope to be able to bring back even more precious memories in the future! Have a great day! Manu