It’s been quite a while. I know. My apologies.
So this is one of my favorite comfort foods to eat of all time. It came to me randomly one day when I was babysitting my little sister and had to make her lunch with basically nothing in the fridge. I really have no idea how this idea even came about, or why I thought it might be a good idea but it turned out to be one of Alex’s favorite childhood recipes. It kinda makes me happy because she’ll always remember it.
What is this weird recipe? It’s literally a mixture of cream of mushroom and sardines. At first I thought it was just some random recipe I made up as a kid but after some Googling, I found out it really wasn’t that original. My childhood recipe is really a variation of Venetian Spaghetti.
Venetian Spaghetti, I say? Well, it’s basically spaghetti with a sardine cream sauce. Blake Royer from this Serious Eats describes this pasta as “clam chowder on pasta.” While mine is a variation, I would say that Royer has a pretty accurate description. I prefer to make mine with canned smoked sardines just because I like that little extra kick of the smoked flavor. I usually get mine from Trader Joe’s.
One day I’ll make a version of this recipe from scratch fully, but for now, here is the quick teenager version.
Ingredients
½ lb. spaghetti or any other pasta you have on hand
1 can of Campbell’s Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
½ 4.25 oz. can of lightly smoked sardines – Save about a teaspoon of the oil
2 cloves garlic
1/8 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1/8 cup of pasta water
Grated Parmesan to top (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- In a large skillet or pan, heat up the olive oil on low heat. Add in the garlic and red pepper flakes. Allow the garlic and pepper to cook for a minute or so until fragrant. Add the smoked sardines and oil from the can into the pan and sauté for 2 minutes so that the sardines break up. Add in the can of cream of mushroom soup and allow the sauce to simmer.
- While the sauce is simmering, cook the pasta until a little under al dente. Make sure to add salt and oil to the water. Drain the pasta and set aside. Save about 1/8 cup of the pasta water to add into the mushroom sardine sauce.
- Add the saved pasta water into the mushroom sardine sauce and simmer for about 5 minutes. The pasta water will thin out the sauce a little while adding starchy qualities that help the sauce stick to the pasta.
- Add the pasta back into the sauce and let it simmer in the sauce for 2 minutes or so. This allows the pasta to absorb the sauce and finish cooking. Salt and pepper to taste and grate some parm on top.
MAK SWAG 