Spaghetti with Chinese ham and peppers

They might not sound like the perfect pair but the salty and pungent Chinese ham is great with pasta. And you don’t need so much ham to make a flavorful pasta dish. With Chinese ham, a little goes a long, long way. Not that Chinese ham is absolutely essential. Any smoky, salty ham will do just as well.

This spaghetti dish, last Saturday’s dinner, has very few ingredients all of which are pretty much staples in any kitchen where real home-cooking gets done most days of the week. Apart from the Chinese ham and the pasta, there’s onion, bell peppers, milk, butter and cheese. With such simple ingredients, if you are very much able to chop, pour and stir, why order pizza or run to the nearest fast food outlet for the family’s dinner?

Serves 4 to 6.

Ingredients :

225 g. of spaghetti, cooked al dente
6 tbsps. of butter
1 large white onion
1 large green bell pepper
1 large red bell pepper
200 g. of Chinese (or other smoky, salty) ham
1-1/2 c. of skim milk
200 to 225 g. of medium cheddar cheese
salt
pepper

Peel and coarsely chop the onion.

Cut the bell peppers in half, scrape out the seeds and cut off the tops and the veins. Chop coarsely.

Chop the ham.

Cut the cheese into very small cubes or grate coarsely.

Melt the butter in a pan. When hot, add the ham and cook for about two minutes. Add the chopped onion and bell peppers and continue cooking, stirring often, until the vegetables start to turn soft.

Add the cooked spaghetti to the pan. Pour in the milk. Add the cheese. Sprinkle with about a teaspoonful of salt. Cook, stirring, until the spaghetti is heated through and the cheese has melted and thickened the sauce. Grind some pepper over the pasta, toss a few times and serve at once.

In the mood for more food?

1. Estrel’s caramel cake
2. Adobong sitaw 2
3. Inspired by Daddy in the kitchen
4. Chicken, squash and zucchini saute
5. Yema balls
6. Ground pork and vegetables frittata
7. Zebra cake
8. Comfort food and home cooked meals
9. Adobong kangkong
10. Cheese omelet

I'm everywhere!

• Pinoy Cook on Facebook
• I am Pinoy Cook on Twitter & Plurk
• My Multiply account

Fish & seafood

• No meat during Lent?
• Baked river cobbler fillets
• Baked scallops
• Farfalle (bow-tie pasta) with pesto, and smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwiches
• Fried labahita (surgeonfish) with chili-pineapple sauce
• Pan-fried kitang with tofu-egg salsa
• Whole fish with mayo sauce
• Pasta with prawns in creamy garlic sauce
• Braised tilapia
• Salmon and tomato soup

Superb soups

• Salmon head and asparagus soup
• Save the meat from the soup bones
• Real cream of mushroom soup
• Clams and malunggay soup with coconut milk
• Beef, misua and upo soup
• Chicken soup for a rainy day
• Salmon and tomato soup
• Macaroni soup
• Sotanghon (vermicelli), chicken and mushroom soup
• Kalabasa (squash) and potato soup

Dream Home