Spaghetti

RECIPE, SERVES TWO

• 10 oz (283g) fresh grape or cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 lb (227g) dry spaghetti (ideally NOT bronze-cut)
• 2 jalapeños (or other large, mild chili)
• 5-6 cloves of garlic
• white wine (optional)
• tomato paste
• olive oil
• fresh basil for garnish
• salt

For the optional pickled chili garnish

• A couple serrano chilies (or any small, mild chili)
• sugar
• salt
• vinegar

1. If you're making the pickled chilies, put a big pinch of sugar and a little pinch of salt into a small bowl and dissolve it in enough vinegar to cover the chilies. Hold the chilies with heat-safe tongs and blister them in fire until almost blackened then put them immediately into the vinegar. Let sit while you cook everything else, or put them in the fridge where they'll last at least a week.
2. For the pasta, slice the jalapeños into thick rounds. If you want to lessen the heat, pop the white pith and seeds out of some or all of the rounds and discard. Peel and roughly chop the garlic.
3. Purée the tomatoes and dilute with a roughly equal quantity of water. Season with a big pinch of salt — it should taste as salty as soup.
4. Heat a thick film of olive oil in a nonstick or well-seasoned cast iron pan (I think the teflon pan gives much better results), put in the peppers and garlic and cook for a minute. Stir in a big squeeze of tomato paste. Pour in about 1/4 of the tomato broth. (It might spit on you if the oil is really hot, so be careful.)
5. Lay in the dry spaghetti (break it in half if necessary to fit it in the bottom of the pan). Nudge the strands a little so the nestle down in the liquid. Cook until most of the water evaporates or absorbs and the bottom layer of pasta fries and browns. Stir in another 1/4 of the tomato broth and the repeat the whole evaporation/browning process until you've put in all the tomato broth and/or the pasta is al dente.
6. If you run out of broth, just finish it with water, or a splash of white wine. You also might want to taste the pasta for seasoning toward the end of the process and maybe add some salt. Stir in some basil leaves right before plating. Garnish with the pickled chilies, if you're into that.
7. I just realized this recipe is incidentally vegan. I probably should have pointed that out in the video. I suppose the vegans will notice anyway.