Crispy Pasta with Spicy Soju Gochujang Tomato

Do you ever dream about food? No? Oh, because I think I spend most of my day in a limbo state of half asleep, half awake, thinking about different combos, piecing together recipes, and mentally designing my next work of art. This was one of those recipes that made it past the walls of my brain and onto a plate.

I was thinking about how unfair it is that tomato vodka gets all the fame and glory. I saw that people were starting to use mezcal in replace of vodka, so I thought, why not sake?? I made my older brother accompany me in the kitchen as I needed his expertise on all things liquor. I was originally going to use sake in replace of the vodka, but he advised me to keep it Korean with soju to pair with the gochujang I wanted to add to the tomato paste. So that’s what we did, and to no surprise to me, it turned out to be delicious ;)

Ingredients

• ½ a box of a fun pasta-shape 

• Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

• 5-8 cloves of garlic (more garlic more YUM… but use as much as you want)

• ⅓ onion finely diced

• ½  tsp red pepper flakes 

• 3 large tbsp gochujang 

• 3 tbsp tomato paste 

• ½ cup of soju

• ¾ cup heavy cream 

• 1-2 tbsp butter to finish 

• 1 cup Reserved pasta water (you probably won’t use all of it)
  
  

  Method

• Small dice the onion and thinly slice or mince the garlic 

• Saute the onion and garlic in a glug of good EVOO with red pepper flakes

• Meanwhile, boil your salted water and cook ½ the box of pasta al dente (according to the package) 

• Reserve 1 cup of pasta cooking water. Drain the pasta once cooked and set aside. 

• Once the onion and garlic are translucent, you don’t want color on them, add your gochujang and tomato paste and toast all together for about 3 minutes. 

• Seasoning with salt throughout the recipe will allow you to grow a deeper, more delicious flavor. 

• Deglaze the pan with soju and fully incorporate the liquid into the paste. Cook for 3-5 minutes to cook off any alcohol.

• Reduce the heat, add the cream, and combine. 

• Taste and season with salt and pepper and set aside. 

• Heat a pan, then add more EVOO, add half your cooked pasta, and fry until brown and crispy on the edges and sides (doing this in batches allows for the pasta to get crispy rather than steam from being crowded in the pan). For best results, mess with the pasta as little as possible so it can sit in the oil and get that good crunchy outside.  

• Once all your pasta is crispy, add it to your tomato sauce along with a knob of butter and some of the reserved pasta water. 

• Stir to emulsify the butter and water into the sauce, adding as much or as little water as needed to get the desired consistency. 

• Serve hot with basil, fresh parm, and cracked paper 

• Enjoy :)