Pasta Tahdig
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- Salt
- 1pound spaghetti or capellini (angel hair)
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- 2cups tomato sauce
- 1cup finely grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
- Optional: 1 tablespoon Calabrian chile paste or 1 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
315 calories; 8 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 46 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 4 grams sugars; 15 grams protein; 513 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil over high heat. Set a colander in the sink. Cook the pasta, stirring occasionally with tongs to prevent clumping. Taste, and adjust salt as needed. When the pasta is al dente, drain into colander.
- Step 2
Return pasta to pot, and add 2 tablespoons oil, tomato sauce, 1 cup Parmesan and chile paste or flakes, if using. Stir well with tongs to combine. and taste to ensure that the mixture is well seasoned.
- Step 3
Preheat a 10-inch nonstick pan over medium heat. Add 3 tablespoons oil. When it shimmers, pile in the pasta, and use a silicone spatula to lightly pat it evenly down into the pan. The pan may seem perilously full, but the cake will condense as it cooks. Use spatula to gently coax the pasta on the edges into a cakelike shape, and reduce heat to medium low. Add oil as needed until you can see it gently bubbling up the sides of the pan — this will ensure that the edges of the tahdig are brown.
- Step 4
Cook, rotating pan a quarter-turn every 5 minutes to ensure even browning. Periodically run spatula around the edges to prevent sticking. After 20 minutes, carefully tip excess oil into a heatproof bowl, then cover the pan with a pizza pan or large, flat pot lid. Carefully flip tahdig onto pan.
- Step 5
Add oil back into pan, and return to medium heat. If needed, add more oil to coat bottom of the pan. Carefully slide tahdig back into pan, using spatula to coax it back into shape. When oil begins to gently bubble up the sides of the pan, reduce heat to medium low, and cook for 20 minutes, rotating pan a quarter-turn every 5 minutes.
- Step 6
Wipe pizza pan clean, tip out excess oil and flip tahdig onto pan as before. If either side (or both) can use a little more crisping, return tahdig to pan without oil, increase heat to medium high and cook for 60-90 seconds, until sizzling and properly browned.
- Step 7
Dab away any excess grease with a paper towel. Allow tahdig to cool for 10 minutes before using a sharp bread knife to cut into slices. Serve warm or at room temperature with grated Parmesan.
- Use your favorite store-bought or homemade tomato-based pasta sauce for this recipe. If you’re nervous about flipping the cake, cook the pasta in advance — even the day before — and let it cool to give it a chance to dry out; it will stick together a little more easily in the pan, making the tahdig easier to flip.
Private Notes
Comments
Karin, next time you make it omit the tomato sauce, and use four or five eggs, this will bind it, I submited the basic recipe below...
My southern Italian wife fries leftover pasta with parmesan until it's caramelized and crunchy. I'm not saying this dish is the reason I asked her to marry me, but it's one of the reasons I would have resorted to begging if she had hesitated to say yes.
I have to object to the "no Italian would admit it". To the contrary! This is actually a traditional Italian dish. More in the South probably, but I can tell you that I ate it many times at home as a kid and loved it. This is called "frittata di maccheroni" and is especially practical as food for a day at the beach or in the countryside. If you have a family meal you will cook more pasta than likely needed and with the leftovers you prepare the frittata for the next day.
My Jewish grandma made a similar dish, eggs, skinny egg noodles, salt and lots of pepper. Shallow fried the mixture in a small cast iron! Delish!
If you have a deep chef's pan (most preferably non stick) you can mix it all, cook it and place it under the broiler. Super easy. I also recommend frying some onions before adding the sauce and studding the cake with chunks of mozzarella before placing under broiler
My goodness, the comments are confusing? Nobody is right or wrong here. People just have different recipes! I had not heard of, or seen Pasta Tahdig before finding this recipe, and was thrilled to make it because it didn’t call for eggs! I made this tasty dish just exactly the way the recipe was written for my family tonight, and we all loved it. It looked just like the photo!
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