『Ase to Sekken』 Peperoncino Pasta

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This recipe comes from Kintetsu Yamada (山田金鉄) in the afterword of Ase to Sekken Vol. 2 (a romance manga I've been reading recently.) Yamada's name for this recipe is "Normal Soup Peperoncino" (普通のスープペペロンチーノ), but I'm honestly not sure how much of a "soup" it's really supposed to be. To me, the recipe reads more like an emulsified peperoncino sauce, so that's how I choose to prepare it.

pasta with an oil-based peperoncino sauce

the recipe

Ingredients

Equipment

  • 1 wide pan
  • 1 medium pot

Food

  • 100g pasta
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 strip of bacon
  • 2 tbsp of olive oil (or enough to form a thin layer in your pan)
  • togarashi (to taste)
  • soy sauce (to taste)
  • green onion

Instructions

Prep work

  • Start boiling enough water to cook your pasta in a pot.
  • Finely chop your garlic and green onion.
  • Thinly chop your bacon. It doesn't need to be razor thin slivers, but you want it thin enough that it can fully cook in a few minutes in the pan.

Cooking

  • Add your pasta to the boiling pot. Cook for 2 minutes less than the al dente time.
  • In your pan, warm the garlic in the olive on low heat until fragrant.
  • When the garlic becomes fragrant, add your bacon to the pan.
  • Once the bacon is cooked, add the togarashi to the oil, garlic, and bacon mixture.
  • Add a ladle full (or two) of the starchy pasta water to your bacon pan and stir to emulsify with the oils.
  • Mix in the boiled pasta and soy sauce to the pan and cook for another minute or so. Coat all of the noodles with the sauce mixture.
  • Kill the heat and mix in the green onion.
  • Garnish with additional green onion after plating if desired.

  1. Ase to Sekken's is also named Sweat and Soap in English. I decided to use the Japanese name above because I thought "Sweat and Soap" would clash with my intent to make this recipe sound tasty. This recipe does not taste like either sweat or soap, I promise.