Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Homemade Spaghettios!


Our local Trader Joe's has begun to sell this fantastic ring-shaped pasta called Analletti. The first thought that comes to mind when I came across this pasta was "Spaghettios!" As a child, Kevin adored spaghettios. I grew up disliking most cheese, so I hated them. If we were to look at a can of Spaghettios today we'd be shocked at the number of strange ingredients. From high fructose corn syrup to processed cheese, I can't fathom how Kevin could have loved it so much as a kid. Luckily, we're adults now and can make more informed decisions about what we eat. With less sodium, real cheese, and noodles cooked al dente, we think our homemade version is tops. Very quick and easy, and so much more wholesome. The sauce is cheesy, thick and smooth. This is a great base recipe, you could get creative and use other kinds of cheese and add veggies if you like! Let us know what you think!

1/2 lb ring shaped pasta
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 cup milk
6 oz sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 8-oz can of tomato sauce
1 6-oz can of tomato paste
1/2 medium onion, finely diced
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Cook pasta in boiling water, according to package directions, until al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, melt butter under medium flame in a saucepan. Add flour and stir about 2 minutes. Add onion to the saucepan, and stir to combine. Cook for 2 more minutes.
Whisk in milk, oregano, basil, and parsley. Bring to a gentle boil.
Whisk in the tomato sauce and tomato paste. If the sauce is too thick, add a ladelful of pasta water. Bring to a simmer.
Stir in the shredded cheese. Salt and pepper to taste
Finally, add the cooked, drained noodles and stir to combine well.

Serves 4.

11 comments:

Caty said...

They look yummy! I'd definitely pick them over anything out of a can.

Avory said...

Hey there! I just found your blog via the delicious-looking recipe for vegetarian bastilla (oh how I wish I had access to saffron!) and I thought I'd pop in and drop a link to my new vegetarian foodblogging challenge. This month's challenge is A Vegetarian Thanksgiving Feast, and you can find all the details here.

Abby said...

Wow! What an awesome idea. I think I'll bookmark this recipe for my future children. Ha. Or possibly my husband!

justkc said...

Thanks for sharing the great recipe! I omitted the cheese and used soymilk so that my dairy-allergic toddler could eat. I put my kids servings over frozen spinach to cool the pasta off and they ate it up! Thanks!

Anonymous said...

I love this recipe--a great find when I went searching for homemade spaghettios! I used a 15 oz. can of tomato sauce for more tomato flavor, cut the milk to 1 c. and cut the flour to 2 Tbsp. Abby, you don't need to wait to try it until you have children. Trust me! My husband and I have enjoyed it and I also thought it would make a great potluck dish where there will be kids. Thanks for posting this.

Kirstin

Anonymous said...

thanks so much for posting this recipe! just made it last night and it was fabulous! i did make a few changes. the most significant was using evaporated milk instead of regular, and cooking the onions for about ten minutes before adding the flour, then cooking another two. i do not like crunchy onions!!

i also used gruyere cheese, as cheddar was not available, and star shaped pasta, because i could not find Os. the stars were definitely not very aesthetically pleasing. Am going to try and track down some Os!!!

Chef Erik said...

Looks great. I'm going to have to try this at work.

What a Dish! said...

I made this tonight, with my daughter. We had a blast, and this recipe is so yummy! Thanks! We both loved it, and so did my one-year old.

Jamie Chancellor said...

BEST THING EVER. TY so much.

Heather said...

Hey, thanks for the recipe. I also wanted to let you know that if you have a Safeway nearby their Eating Right brand has some small wheat pasta rings. I bought them hoping to find a speghetti os recipe.

Unknown said...

My children (ages 11 and 5) LOVED this and said it was BETTER than the can! We are not strictly vegetarian, so instead of 2 cups of milk I used 1 cup organic beef broth and 1 cup milk. I also added homemade meatballs. My children said this recipe was a keeper!