When people say “Filipino pasta,” I am guilty of thinking about sweet tomato sauce with cut-up hotdogs in it. However, our Filipino cuisine holds a lot of specialities that will add a unique and delicious twist to this Italian staple.

Tonight, you can try cooking up something special and  sophisticated with tawilis (freshwater herring) and tomatoes.

Tawilis and Tomato Pasta

Ingredients

For the semi-dried tomatoes
10 pcs  ripe tomoatoes
Thyme
Rosemary
Sugar
Salt
Pepper
2 cups olive oil

For pasta
1/2 cup semi-dried tomatoes
2 cups cooked spaghetti pasta
3 cloves garlic, minced
Tawilis or freshwater herring
Asparagus
1 cup olive oil
3 tbsp Parmesan cheese
Rock salt and pepper, to taste
Basil, chopped

Preparation

For semi-dried tomatoes
1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Blanch the tomatoes. Boil water with salt in a pot, and prepare ice and water in a small bowl. When the water is boiling, place the tomatoes in the pot for around 10 to 15 seconds. Then transfer the tomatoes to the bowl with ice and water.
3. Peel the tomato skin and cut into quarters. Remove all the seeds.
4. Place all the tomatoes in a baking tray. Season with sugar, salt, and pepper. Add thyme and rosemary, then drizzle with olive oil.
5. Bake for around 10 minutes or until tomatoes are dark red.
6. Once ready, store in a jar with olive oil.

For pasta
1. Season the filleted tawilis with rock salt. Set aside for 10 minutes.
2. Sauté garlic and onion in a pan. Then add asparagus.
3. In the same pan, cook the tawilis. And add the semi-dried tomatoes with a little bit of oil.
4. Toss the pasta in. Then add the Parmesan cheese and basil.
5. If the pasta is a bit dry, add more olive oil.
6. Add salt and pepper, to taste.

Source: Charlie Carbungco for Northern Living, “Italian Toss-up”, November 2015.
 

Photo by Patrick Segovia