Pasta with Filipino Tuyo and Vegetables: Herring in Oil

This Pasta with Filipino Tuyo and Vegetables: Herring in Oil has bottled tuyo as a star ingredient. Tuyo are herrings, tiny fish salted and sun dried for food preservation. In recent years, the tuyo, formerly a poor man’s meal, has been elevated to gourmet level. Enterprising businesses in the Philippines created bottled tuyo, tiny salted and fried herrings in rich olive oil, chilies and seasonings. Nowadays, I buy a couple of bottles from the Asian or Filipino grocery and cook up a fancy pasta dish with it. This is an AsianInAmericamag recipe. Serves 2 to 4.

Course: Dinner, Lunch, Main Course, Merienda, Side Dish

Cuisine: American, Asian, Filipino

Keyword: Filipino Bottled Tuyo Pasta

Servings: people

Calories: 1141kcal

Ingredients

16 ounces (1 lb) spaghetti pasta cooked in water according to package directions
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
6 cloves garlic peeled, minced
220 g bottled tuyo (dried herring in olive oil) flaked, include 1-2 Tablespoons of the olive oil from bottled Filipino tuyo
2 cups cherry tomatoes sliced in halves (or use 2 cups chopped large tomatoes)
2 Tablespoons white wine
1/4 to 1/2 cup reserve some from the boiled spaghetti pasta pasta water
2 to 3 cups fresh baby spinach washed
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper powder
1 whole lemon for the juice

Instructions

Cook the spaghetti pasta noodles in water according to package directions. After about 11 to 12 minutes, drain the pasta from the water. Run the pasta noodles through hot water to prevent them from sticking. Keep pasta on a colander till ready to add to the rest of the ingredients.
In a large skillet, over medium high heat, add the extra virgin olive oil. After 1 to 2 minutes, once oil is hot, add the minced garlic, tuyo (bottled herring), tomatoes and white wine. Continue cooking for 8 minutes more.
Add the fresh spinach leaves and the cooked spaghetti pasta to the tuyo-tomato mix in the skillet. Incorporate the mixture well so that the olive oil and tuyo flakes encase the noodles. If noodle dish gets dry, add about 1/4 cup pasta water to moisten dish.
Season with salt and black pepper powder. Sprinkle lemon juice all over (optional). Serve the pasta dish while piping hot.
Where to buy: I buy bottled tuyo from Asian or Filipino groceries here in the USA. Or for my readers' convenience search on the Amazon.com "Shop For It" tab I set up on this blog. Use search term "tuyo in bottles". Click here.
Cook's comments: if tuyo is not convenient, use canned sardines in olive oil for this recipe. Check the bottled tuyo for spicy flavors or amount of chilies. If spicy flavors are not to your liking, omit adding the chilies from the bottled tuyo (or canned sardines).
Recipe notes: feel free to use other types of pasta preferred. This is a forgiving recipe and you can adjust or substitute ingredients to suit individual tastes.
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Nutrition