Real African Dishes: [MC-AllEthnic-Recipes] Spaghetti with Marmite

Sunday, January 9, 2011

[MC-AllEthnic-Recipes] Spaghetti with Marmite - British

* Exported from MasterCook *

Spaghetti with Marmite - British

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 5 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : LowFat (Less than 25%)

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
12 ounces dried spaghetti
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon Marmite yeast extract spread -- or to taste
To serve: -- freshly grated Parmesan

Cook the spaghetti in plenty of boiling salted water, following the package instructions.

When the pasta is almost cooked, melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the Marmite and 1 tablespoon of the pasta water; then drain the pasta and pour the Marmite mixture over the drained spaghetti, adding a little reserved pasta water to amalgamate if required. Serve with plenty of freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Serves 4-6, depending on the age and appetite

AuthorNote: I came across this recipe in Anna Del Conte's memoirs, "Risotto with Nettles". Now, there are so many recipes I could borrow from her, and many I have, but this is the one I have to show you here. She introduces it as "hardly a recipe, but I wanted to include it because I haven't as yet found a child who doesn't like it." The minute I read its title - once I'd got over my crossness that she hadn't told me about it during many years of friendship - I was charmed. Of course it helps that, being a Marmite addict, I knew it would work. And how it does. I have recently turned traitor and shifted towards the Vegemite side of the world, and this works as well, unsurprisingly, with the antipodean ointment.

I know the combination of pasta and Marmite sounds odd to the point of unfeasibility, but wait a moment. There is a traditional day-after-the-roast pasta dish, in which spaghetti is tossed in chicken stock, and I have eaten shortcut versions of this in Italy (recreated guiltlessly in my own kitchen) which uses a crumbled bouillon cube, along with some butter, olive oil, chopped rosemary and a little of the pasta cooking water to make a flavorsome sauce for spaghetti. If you think about it, Marmite offers the saltiness and savoriness the way a bouillon cube might.

I'm glad this recipe is here, and I thank Anna for it. But even when it's not an Anna-recipe, I think of her whenever I cook pasta, remembering her two ordinances: one, that the water you cook pasta in should be as salty as the Mediterranean; and two, that pasta should not be too officiously drained, but rather be "con la goccia", that's to say with some cooking water still clinging to it, as this makes it easier to incorporate the sauce. It was she who taught me to scoop out some of the cooking water just before draining the pasta, to help the sauce amalgamate later if necessary. Marmite can be found in gourmet food stores, and also online.

ChupaNote: Marmite is a yeast extract spread that is very popular in the U.K. The ingredients include: Yeast Extract, Salt, Vegetable Extract, Niacin, Thiamin,
Spice Extracts, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Celery Extract, Vitamin B12.
http://www.marmite.com/love/nutrition/ingredients.html

Cuisine:
"English"
Source:
"Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home by Nigella Lawson, 2010"
S(Formatted by Chupa Babi):
"Jan 2011"
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Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 315 Calories; 8g Fat (23.0% calories from fat); 9g Protein; 51g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 19mg Cholesterol; 126mg Sodium. Exchanges: 3 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1 1/2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0