Lots of my recipes begin with a story I guess and this Mixed Nuts Spaghetti is not any different, it comes with special memories 🥰 About 12 years ago, when I moved out of my parent’s house, my own cooking journey began. I always helped my parents out in the kitchen, but now, I could explore my own cooking style. A few years later, I was in a bad place and too proud to reach out to anyone, but I made a friend at work and we happened to live on the same camping! We were exchanging thoughts about food and he offered to cook for me, which I of course happily accepted!
We both didn’t have much money at the time, so this is a poor man’s dish. Cheap, but SO GOOD! He had some seasoned snack mixed nuts left and mixed it with spaghetti and whatever he had in his pantry. My. Mind. Was. Blown. 😱 This combination of ingredients was SO different than anything I got at home and this guy just threw some ingredients in a pan and made comfort food, that was actually… Comforting…. This act of kindness with this food and the way it made me feel, became a memory that is very dear to me.
This recipe is not a copy, but what he did was definitely the inspiration for this! I still love making this recipe, especially on days when I don’t have much to spend and on days when I don’t feel like a lot of meat. Let me know in the comments what you thought!
Prepping time!
For the Mixed Nuts Spaghetti recipe (2 servings) we will need:
- 250 grams Spaghetti
- 150 grams diced Bacon
- 150 grams diced Mushrooms
- 40 grams Spring Onions diced
- 1/2 cup freshly chopped curled Parsley
- 1 Green Onion diced
- 3 Birds eye chillies
- 3 cloves of Garlic
- 2 tbsp Soy sauce
- 1/2 tbsp Maggi Seasoning
- 1 tbsp Sweet Paprika powder
- Cracked black pepper to taste
Because I like to have everything ready when I need it, I start with boiling a pot with water and salt for my spaghetti while I crush my chillies and garlic to a paste.
This process is probably personal, but I prefer using mortar and pestle for this. I reckon it spreads the flavour better throughout the dish, but there is a possibility it’s just in my head, because I’m raised with mortar and pestle 😂
If the water is boiled by now; add the spaghetti until it’s al dente. This usually takes about 8 minutes, but you might have to check the package, in case you bought the hollow spaghetti that is finished within 2 minutes. Yes. I’ve been caught out with this rookie mistake 😂 Let me know in the comments what lessons you learned the hard way in the kitchen, I would love to know!
I start by toasting the nuts, so they can cool down a little before I throw em in. This way they will stay crunchy, instead of soggy.
The paste, together with the onion are the first things I throw in the pan.
As soon as the onions look glazy/transparent, add the smoked paprika, maggi seasoning, soy sauce and mushrooms.
Add in parsley, nuts and spaghetti and stir until all of the spaghetti is covered in all of the delicious spices and flavours.
Last but not least I add the spring onions. The reason behind this is, is that I like to keep them crunchy and fresh.
Time to dish up!
Garnish with some parsley and green onions. Bon appetit!
Mixed nuts spaghetti
Ingredients
- 250 gr Spaghetti
- 150 gr Diced bacon
- 150 gr Diced mushrooms
- 1 Green onion (diced)
- 40 gr Spring onions
- 3 cloves Garlic
- 3 Birds eye chillies
- 1/2 cup Freshly chopped curled parsley
- 2 tbsp Soy sauce
- 1/2 tbsp Maggi Seasoning
- 1 tbsp Sweet smoked paprika powder
- Cracked black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook spaghetti al dente
- Crush garlic and chillies in a mortar and pestle (or chop finely)
- Toast the nuts in a pan and set aside to cool
- Heat up a pan with some oil and add in garlic/chillie paste and onion
- Once onion is transparent, add in bacon, mushrooms, spices and sauces
- Stir and add parsley
- Add spaghetti and nuts. (If it is a bit too dry, add some pasta water)
- Mix together until all the flavours are combined and add the spring onion
- Dish up and sprinkle some parsley and spring onion to garnish
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