Pasta Airado

Start a big pot of salted water to boil, for pasta.  I recommend whole wheat rotini, because it holds onto the sauce well.

Into a medium saucepan toss : one yellow onion, diced, 3 cloves of garlic, minced, and 3 jalapenos, chopped - seeds and all!  Sautee these over medium heat in a teaspoon of bacon grease + a teaspoon of olive oil.  Don't let it get brown, stir it around till the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add a generous splash of red wine vinegar and cook till most of the vinegar has evaporated.

While that is cooking, cut up 3 carrots (2 cups or thereabouts) and steam them in the microwave, or a steamer, or whatever, till tender.

Into a food processor dump 2 cans chili ready tomatoes.  Dump in the carrots, and finally the onion and pepper mixture.  Puree for a goodly long time.  Return to the saucepan, and cook a bit, till your pasta is ready. Salt and pepper to taste.  If you want it spicier than 3 jalapeno hot, add some hot sauce or cracked red pepper at this time. Might want to put a lid on it because it is thick and will bubble and splash all over the place.

Make sure to sauce the pasta before the kids see that it is the whole wheat kind.  Also, don't tell them there are carrots (or depending on the kid, onions) in the sauce.  Serve with some taco cheese.

Sorry there were no pictures taken, but we inhaled this like we'd been deprived of sustenance for a while.  Even Naomi, who told me repeatedly that she doesn't like "pasta with sauce, only butter," ate two bowls.  So since it got two kid thumbs up, I had to write it down.

My meal plan had Pasta Arrabiata written on it, but once I mistakenly opened a can of chili ready tomatoes instead of plain, I had to look up the Spanish word for angry and change the name of the dish.  Worked out ok, although it proves that we cannot go a whole week without having something Mexican influenced for supper.