During the Covid-19 shutdown, we’ve been recreating some of our favorite Syracuse foods at home, from Alto Cinco burritos to Dinosaur Bar-B-Que ribs.
This month, we tackled the famous spicy hot tomato oil from Pastabilities. It’s an iconic Syracuse staple, and pairs perfectly with Pasta’s beloved stretch bread. But it’s versatile, too, and makes for a fantastic, garlicky-sweet pasta sauce and sandwich spread.
Spicy hot tom oil has put Syracuse on the map more than once. Guy Fieri raved about it on “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” and it was featured in “Food and Wine” magazine as one writer’s “favorite thing at Wegmans.”
Pastabilities owner Karyn Korteling and her late husband, Pasta’s co-founder Patrick Heagerty, created the tomato oil with their staff after they tried a version of it at a roadside restaurant in Italy. Korteling once described the oil they wanted to mimic as having a “sublime sweetness” along with the fiery spice.
For several years, the restaurant kitchen made extra tomato oil and packaged it in containers, to be sold at Pasta’s Daily Bread, its bakery and shop across Franklin Street. The production of the sauce soon began to overwhelm the kitchen. Pre-pandemic, it produced more than 150 gallons a week for the restaurant alone.
Spicy hot tomato oil may be the restaurant’s special recipe, but the ingredients are thankfully printed on the side of each jar. So we played with some measurements (and subbed in some ingredients to taste, like lemon juice instead of vinegar) until we landed on a nicely balanced oil at home.
Ingredients
• 2.5 fresh garlic bulbs, peeled and sliced
• One cup of extra virgin olive oil
• 8 medium red chili peppers (we’ve heard Serrano or Thai chilis also work well)
• 1/8 cup of salt (we used Morton’s)
• 1/2 cup of honey
• 2 cans of Certo crushed tomatoes
• Lemon juice (we used bottled juice, but half a fresh lemon is better)
The recipe itself couldn’t be easier. First, slice the hot peppers roughly (don’t touch your eyes!) Then mix the peppers, crushed tomatoes, lemon juice, honey and salt in a blender until smooth.
Peel and thinly slice the cloves from two and half bulbs of garlic. Then heat up one cup of extra virgin olive oil in a sauce pot until it shimmers. Sauté the garlic until soft and fragrant, then pour in the tomato-pepper mixture and stir the sauce on low heat.
After a couple minutes of simmering, your homemade hot tomato oil is ready to serve with warm Pasta’s stretch bread. (We won’t try making stretch bread at home. Nothing we do could come close to the glorious real thing.) Keep some in the fridge and try it on fried eggs and toast for a great breakfast.
You can add more or less peppers (or use a variety of hot peppers) to play with the spice level. You can also double or triple the recipe to give jars away as gifts, or to feed a massive party someday when we can have massive parties again. Damn you, Covid.
Stretch bread and spicy hot tomato oil at Pastabilities.File photo
If you don’t want to make a mess in the kitchen, you can still get the real thing of course. Spicy hot tomato oil can be found at Wegmans, Pasta’s Daily Bread and many area gift shops.
Pastabilities remains open for takeout and curbside pickup. You can find the menu at pastabilities.com to order by calling (315) 474-1153. It’s not the same as digging into a hot bowl of pasta downtown, but hey, it’s the little things.
The pandemic has been difficult for all of us. But one small ray of light during the shutdown is the gift of time. Home cooks everywhere can perfect a few new recipes during this time, whether it’s a Rochester garbage plate or a giant frittata from Mother’s Cupboard.
Cheers to all the mediocre cooks out there. We hope you stay healthy and safe this winter.
MORE from the COVID-19 COOKING SHOW
Make the Hofmann coney from Heid’s at home
Make the Rochester garbage plate from The Brine Well Eatery at home
Make the giant frittata from Mother’s Cupboard at home
Make the Calabrian pizza at Apizza Regionale at home
Make the catfish burrito from Alto Cinco at home
Make Eva’s famous pierogi at home
Make Dinosaur Bar-B-Que smoked ribs at home
The Link LonkDecember 31, 2020 at 03:02AM
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Covid-19 cooking: We tried to make Pasta’s spicy hot tomato oil at home (video) - syracuse.com
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