Easy Sardines Angel Hair Pasta

Pasta is one of the easiest food I cook that I find delicious and satisfying. Unlike champorado or a simple cheese sandwich, it can be a complete meal using almost readily available ingredients that aren't too processed.

Easy to cook, almost no-prep pasta dish

I was super happy to learn that angel hair pasta (or the one that I bought) can be cooked in ONLY TWO MINUTES. That's a time saver and a sanity saver from an ever hungry Mateo. It takes longer to wait for water to boil.

For this recipe, I used a small can of Ayam Brand Sardines in Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Chilli. I removed the red chili when I cooked, which gave the dish just the right amount of spiciness for my toddler. Of course, other brand or type of sardines will do as long as it's in extra virgin olive oil.

The only "preparation" needed for this recipe is chopping the garlic. Alternatively, one can use a garlic press to make it even easier. However, I like the chunkiness of the garlic when I simply chop it using the trusted knife and chopping board.

When I give food to my toddler, I make it a point to minimize the salt (or sodium) content. Canned sardines already has added salt in it, so I refrain from adding even more salt to the sauce. When I'm being extra cautious, I don't even add salt to the boiling water for cooking pasta.

For an added nutritional boost, I sometimes add a little dash of moringa powder. Too much and it will become disturbingly overpowering.

As easy as one-two-three, this is simply a boil-chop-saute-serve dish. Cook the pasta. Saute the garlic. Add the sardines. Add the cooked pasta. I don't even find the need to use a strainer for the pasta. Use a thong to get most of the pasta out of the water, carefully drain water, then put the rest of the pasta in the pan.

I'm not sure if I could have done this dish with so much ease during my early days (or weeks or months) of cooking without a toddler. Perhaps just a little bit of ease, but not the quickness and dexterity that I have now. Sigh, motherhood made me a whole lot better, I think.

My hands were already full with hungry Mateo when I finished cooking, so I did not have the time or patience to serve this with shredded cheese. I'm guessing this will serve well topped with real shredded cheese (cheddar, perhaps?).

Here's the recipe. Serves one or two depending on your appetite. Enjoy!

print recipe

Easy Sardines Angel Hair Pasta

by agoodabad September-2-2017

A really quick to cook pasta using almost ready ingredients

Ingredients

• 120 g or 1 small can sardines in extra virgin olive oil and chilli
• 120 g or 1" diameter  angel hair pasta
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
• salt, to taste
• pepper, to taste
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano
• water to cook pasta

Instructions

1. Cook pasta per instructions. While cooking pasta, prepare the sauce.2. Sauté garlic in extra virgin olive oil.3. Add sardines including the oil. Coarsely chop the sardines as you sauté.4. Season with pepper and dried oregano (and salt).5. Turn off heat. Add cooked angel hair pasta.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 4 mins Total time: 9 mins Yield: 2