Caramella Pasta

I normally wouldn’t label myself as a ‘foodie’. According to the dictionary, a foodie is a person that spends a keen amount of attention and energy on knowing the ingredients of food, the proper preparation of food, and finds great enjoyment in top-notch ingredients and exemplary preparation. Based on this, I would fall into the category of the former as in the amount of attention and energy I spend on eating the food or licking the plates would probably be a more accurate description. Finding humor in this term, I looked to these sweeties for help, caramellas (alternative here) and a recipe I found from a gifted cookbook, Jamie Oliver’s book here. This pasta dish was kind of my claim to fame for graduating from simple easy pastas made straight out of cans and premade and/or store bought pasta (my beloved Mac & Cheese). While the process was time consuming and I have never tried Jamie’s Caramellas (some day), in the mean time, these will have to do! This recipe is surprisingly simple and easy. All you need is your favorite ingredients for the filling, store bought dough (I used egg wonton wrappers, who knew? A trick I inherited from my sister), fold into candy wrappers then dunk them in a boiling pot of water for a minute or two. Whip up your favorite sauce (I went with fresh tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and chopped basil). The results were worth the wait and when I took the first bite of a caramella, I knew this would become a new tradition of sorts.