Serves 4
Ingredients:
2 Handfuls sun dried tomatoes
2 White onions
1/2 Can black olives
10 small capers or 5 large ones
Oregano
Salt
Pepper
1 Handful basil
Olive oil (extra virgin, first press)
Preparation:
Chop the sun dried tomatoes much smaller (get the pieces to the size of your thumbnail) Place them in a mixing bowl. Place a pinch of oregano in the mix (Mom uses pinches and punches rather than scientific units of measurement. Cup your hand with palm facing the sky as if asking for change. A pinch will look like dime in circumference and 1/2 an inch in height in your palm. A punch is about a fifty cent piece in circumference and an inch high.) Chop the basil and place in the bowl. Put the half can of olives into the mix (I used the pre-sliced olives. If they are uncut, chop the olives prior to putting them in the mix) Place olives in the mix. Add a punch of salt. Break the capers apart with your fingers and place them in the mix. 3 Mississippi pour your oil over the tomatoes and oregano in the bowl. To add kick, you can optionally put a little black pepper or red pepper.
Cut onions in half and then long ways so that thy look like smiles rather than little squares. Place them in large frying pan (one that can accommodate all of the ingredients mentioned above). 4 Mississippi the oil over the sliced onions.
Cooking:
Fry the onions on high until they lose strength but don’t let them brown too much. Keep mixing the onions so that they don’t stick. At the point you determine they are weak, drop the mixing bowl of sun dried tomato ingredients into the frying pan with the onions. Continuously mix this. Don’t fry this entire mix for more than a minute. Remove pan from burner and place a lid on top of the pan.
Cook your spaghetti al dente*. When finished and strained, mix all of the sun-dried tomatoes with the spaghetti. You can serve this dish how or cold.
* According to Ask Yahoo (http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20011004.html) Al dente is a fancy term for pasta that’s fully cooked, but not overly soft. The phrase is Italian for “to the tooth,” which comes from testing the pasta’s consistency with your teeth.
How does one cook pasta “just right”? According to the National Pasta Association:
Boil 4 to 6 quarts of water for one pound of dry pasta.
Stir in the pasta and return the water to a boil.
Stir the pasta occasionally during cooking.
Follow the package directions for cooking times.
Nibble the pasta to see if it’s done. Here we return to our old friend “al dente” — firm to the bite, yet cooked through.
Drain pasta immediately (otherwise it’ll keep cooking itself). You’re done. You’re just right. You’re al dente.