Best Spicy Chorizo Pasta Recipe By Tasty Recipes

SPICY CLAM CHORIZO PASTA

Spicy Clam Chorizo Pasta image

Clams work their way into plenty of dishes in the Baja Peninsula of Mexico, which is where the chef Pati Jinich picked up this recipe for pasta con salsa picante de chorizo y almejas. The dish, which she featured on an episode of her PBS show, "Pati's Mexican Table," is a nod to the prized clams that are harvested in and around the coastal lagoons on Mexico's Pacific shores. It pays homage to the surf-and-turf dishes in Tijuana, where cooks find seemingly endless ways to mix meat and seafood on a single plate. The dish takes its aggressive heat from chorizo and chiles de arbol, but it can be dialed down by substituting 1/2 teaspoon or less of red-pepper flakes. The beer in the dish is Ms. Jinich's nod to the craft-beer boom in Baja.

Provided by Kim Severson

Categories dinner, weeknight, pastas, seafood, main course

Time 45m

Yield 4 large servings

Number Of Ingredients 14

Ingredients

4 to 5 dozen small littleneck clams
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 pound chorizo sausage, casings removed and filling chopped
1 cup finely chopped white onion
5 garlic cloves, pressed or finely chopped
2 chiles de arbol, stemmed and chopped (keep the seeds), plus more to taste
1 cup light beer
1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt, or to taste
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon honey
1 pound spaghetti
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves, for garnish
2 tablespoons chopped parsley leaves, for garnish

Steps:

Rinse and scrub the clams under cold water, making sure they are closed and unbroken. Discard any that aren't closed. Drain well.
Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large pot or casserole with a lid set over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the chorizo, breaking it into smaller pieces with 2 wooden spatulas or spoons, and fry until it begins to crisp and brown, about 4 minutes. Remove the chorizo with a slotted spoon and place in a bowl.
Add the 2 remaining tablespoons of olive oil to the rendered chorizo fat and reduce the heat to medium. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, for a couple of minutes until softened. Add the garlic and chile de arbol and cook for a minute, until the garlic is fragrant and the chile de arbol begins to toast. Pour in the beer, add the salt, and once it comes to a simmer, incorporate the drained clams. Let it come to a simmer again, cover with a lid, and cook for 6 to 7 minutes, shaking the pot occasionally to help distribute the clams, until the shells open.
Remove the lid and, using a slotted spoon, transfer the clams into a bowl, including the clam meat that may have fallen from the shells, and discarding those with closed shells. Raise the heat to medium-high and continue to cook the beer-clam liquid for 6 to 7 minutes, so it strongly simmers and a lot of the alcohol evaporates. Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste and honey. Stir well, reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring once in between.
Meanwhile, bring salted water to a boil in a large pot. Add the spaghetti and cook until al dente, about 9 to 10 minutes.
Remove about 3 dozen clams from their shells and discard those shells. Remove the lid from the pot with the sauce and incorporate the cooked chorizo, shelled clam meat and the clams still in their shells. Mix well.
Strain the spaghetti and add it to the sauce. Toss until it is coated. Transfer to a serving platter or individual bowls. Garnish with the parsley and cilantro, and serve.

Nutrition Facts : @context http, Calories 1034, UnsaturatedFat 25 grams, Carbohydrate 117 grams, Fat 39 grams, Fiber 9 grams, Protein 51 grams, SaturatedFat 11 grams, Sodium 1877 milligrams, Sugar 17 grams, TransFat 0 grams

SPICY CHORIZO PASTA

Spicy Chorizo Pasta image

Macaroni and chorizo is classic Spanish comfort food. While iterations abound, it typically starts by frying smoked chorizo with a little onion, adding canned or fresh tomato and maybe some oregano, then letting it simmer into a thick tomato sauce. It's often topped with cheese and baked like a mac and cheese. Instead of fresh tomatoes, this recipe uses highly concentrated tomato paste, which is made by cooking down tomatoes for ages so you don't have to. The paste fries in the chorizo's rendered drippings for a very fast, silky, smoky and spicy sauce. When shopping for this recipe, look for Spanish chorizo, a shelf-stable sausage usually found near salami and other cured meats in the grocery store. Mexican chorizo is sold fresh and is made with different chiles and spices.

Provided by Ali Slagle

Categories dinner, weekday, pastas, main course

Time 30m

Yield 4 servings

Number Of Ingredients 7

Ingredients

Kosher salt and black pepper
1 pound orecchiette or other short pasta
1/4 cup olive oil
4 ounces Spanish chorizo, casing removed (see Tip), if necessary, and thinly sliced
3 tablespoons double concentrate tomato paste (or 6 tablespoons canned tomato paste)
3 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes

Steps:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook, according to package directions, until al dente. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water, then drain the pasta.
Meanwhile, in a large Dutch oven, heat the olive oil and chorizo over medium-high. Cook, stirring occasionally, until chorizo is crisp and brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn off the heat and use a slotted spoon to transfer the chorizo to a plate.
Return the pot to medium heat and add the tomato paste and garlic. Cook, stirring, until the tomato paste is caramelized and a shade darker, 3 to 5 minutes, covering the pan if the splattering is wild. Add the red-pepper flakes and a few grinds of black pepper, then remove from heat.
Add the cooked pasta and 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water to the tomato mixture. Return the pot to the medium-high heat, and stir vigorously until the pasta is well coated. Add more pasta water until the sauce is glossy. Stir in the chorizo and season to taste with salt and pepper.