Pasta ni Ima'

In 1989 I took a trip to Rio de Janeiro and stopped by SFO on the way, spending a week with my brother, Bernard. Part of our plan was to watch Dianne Schuur but on the way, we got stuck in traffic on the Sta Monica freeway. We ended up getting a bottle of Absolut and headed back to his apartment. With nothing prepared for dinner he went ahead and showed me how to make a pasta dish that we used to eat in Pasay city at the house of Mercedes Santos vda. de Paras where our grandmother Rosa Tayag Maglutac worked as the chef well . . kusinera. I am convinced that she was our personal experience with what Chef Gene Gonzales described as the legendary sulipan chefs.

Their greatness was not in the use of complex exotic ingredients but in the transformation of the ordinary into legend.

Here goes. You will need

1 Pork knuckle (front or hind doesn't matter)
1 medium white onion chopped fine
1 small white onion peeled and kept whole
4 cloves of garlic crushed and chopped
1 12" stalk celery cut in half - chop half fine
1 medium carrot split in 2 - dice half into little cubes about 1/4 inch square.
500 gms. pasta
water or light chicken broth (in typical capampangan flair, just enough to cook the pasta)
1 bay leaf
Olive or Corn oil, or any oil that won't solidify, the tendons in the knuckle will take care of that.
1 tbsp. Annato seeds steeped in 1/4 cup of hot water
3 hotdog or sausage (not the red but the brown - german franks are fine) sliced diagonally
Salt and pepper to taste.

First make your stock

In cold water, place your knuckle, incl the small white onion, half the celery stalk, half the carrot and enough water to submerge the knuckle. Start the flame and as it starts to simmer, ladle out the scum coming up to the surface. Don't let it come to a rapid boil at once. As the scum disappears you can turn your flame up and let it come to a rolling boil. When the knuckle is cooked, you can tell when you pierce the center no blood comes out, remove the knuckle and pull the meat, skin and tendons off from the bone. Chop this fine.

The liquid should start giving off a grey color. Return the meat, skin and tendons you pulled back into the broth and let it boil rapidly until the liquid is reduced to about ahalf of its original volume. You will notice it has actually turned an absurd dark murky green color. This is what you're looking for. Take out the meats and set aside. Salt your broth, you will need about one teaspoon. Pepper lightly then Keep the broth!

Saute' the onions, garlic, carrots and celery. Allow to sweat until translucent. Add your meats and saute lightly until they are well blended with the sofrito. Now slowly add in your broth then your spaghetti. Ima, would split the raw noodles in half. As it comes to a boil add the liquid from the annato steeped in water, and drop in your bay leaf.

As the liquid starts to reduce, add your sausages and mix once to blend in with the mixture. Watch closely, it will be done in about 10 minutes.

Try not to stir it too much - as the spaghetti becomes al dente, your liquid should be a nice bright more yellow than green colored sauce, just thick enough to coat the individual strands of pasta.

Turn into a large dish and serve at once. I like to drizzle a bit of olive oil after its turned onto a plate.

If this gets cold, it tends to coagulate because of the tendons in the knuckle. It's not exactly your healthiest dish but a minute in the microwave should take care of that.

And there you are, paired with ice cold Absolut on the rocks with a twist of lemon and nice crusty bread and butter, you'll swear by it.