Pasta in Spam Sauce

While I reorganize and get my post-Thanksgiving self together. I'm still in that food coma phase, here's a little something I had cooked up several days ago. I can imagine the look your faces now. SPAM SAUCE?!?!?!? So here's how it came about. I was tempted to try and make spam meatballs. I ground the meat in the food processor and turned them into balls and started to cook the. This is where it had gone wrong. As I cooked the spam balls, it began to fall apart on me. Oh, how disappointed I was as the cute little golf sized balls crumbled before my eyes as I tried to keep them in tact. I guess I should have put a binding agent into the mix like an egg and some panko crumbs.

Anyway, since it was too late to salvage the spam balls, I decided to go ahead and turn my supposed marinara sauce into a meat sauce. You don't need to add any salt since the spam already has a saty taste to it. Just added some herbs, tomato chunks and green onions. I boiled some farfalle pasta and ladled a generous serving of the sauce on top and chowed down. You can't taste the spam as the tomato and herbs compensate for that. I'm happy with how it turned out. I shall give the Spam balls another try some day. Luckily, I still have one can of Spam in the pantry. But for now I'm content. Who knew processed meats can be a little more interesting?

Serves 4-5

Pasta in Spam Sauce

1/2 box of uncooked pasta
1 12oz can spam lite - finely chopped
1 12oz tomato chunks
1 tsp dry basil
1 tsp dry oregano
1 c fresh parsley - chopped
3 green onion - chopped
1 large garlic clove - finely chopped
 pepper to taste

Bring a pot of water to a boil, Season the water with some salt and a little bit of olive oil. When the water is bubbling, add the pasta. Stir a couple of times to prevent the pasta from sticking to each other. Cook until al dente. Roughly 8-10 minutes.

In a sauce pan, saute the green onions and garlic in a tiny drizzle of extra virgin olive oil for 30 seconds. Then add the chopped spam. Cook until they slightly start to brown. Add the dry and fresh herbs (basil, oregano, and parsley) Mix them in and cook for roughly 2 minutes. Season with a little pepper. Add the tomato chucks and stir. Bring to a slight simmer.

When the pasta is ready ladle some the sauce on top and enjoy!