Thursday, January 20, 2011

Ophidiophobia and spaghetti tacos

Meredith is frightened to death of snakes (Ophidiophobia). She also "doesn't like the taste of spaghetti." She insists that one has nothing to do with the other, however, she'll eat any other type of pasta.

Anyway, one of Jacob's favourite TV shows is iCarly. It's about a girl named Carly who lives in a fancy studio, airs her own webcast and is being brought up by her eccentric artist brother, Spencer. On one occasion, Spencer serves spaghetti tacos, and an Internet culinary sensation was born.
Spencer creating a legend.
The hype was really about the fact that the spaghetti taco made pasta portable. You could hold it in your hand. Pasta suddenly was on par with a sandwich! Quite amazing.

I pitched the idea to Jacob, and he was okay with it as long as there was either: no sauce, or, cheese sauce. I pitched the idea to Meredith, and her criteria was "don't use spaghetti."
Jacob helping himself to more
spaghetti taco goodness
The first time we tried it, we used Fusili. Big disaster. The short, chunky pasta didn't really stay in the shells. Take two - we're using Linguini. It's not spaghetti, so it meets Meredith's criteria.
My taco (with a flour shell) and Meredith's with a corn shell.
Both are dressed with guocamole, sour cream and cheese.
For sauce, I used fake kraft powdered cheese sauce for Jacob's tacos, and I put some hot chunky salsa through the blender for the grown-ups. I also made some guocamole and served some sour cream.
Jacob chowing down on his "Jacob Approved" taco.
Jacob later told me that this is his new favourite food. Just don't tell my mom that her pizza has been bumped to number-two!

Recipes by the Haggis and the Herring: tasty world recipes tested in our kitchen
Try other tasty recipes

MyMeatlessMondays hearthandsoulgirlichef

14 comments:

  1. You beat me to it!!! It looks like this was not only dinner, but significant entertainment too ... :)

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  2. Is this an American thing? I don't mean that in an offensive way. I've never heard about this (I'm in the UK). I've only had spaghetti with meatballs and sauce. I didn't realise people ate with other things. I'd definitely need some sauce.

    I never realised how spaghetti is similar to snakes and worms. I can see how because when you suck the spaghetti in it shoots in your mouth like a worm would, I suppose. Thank goodness there's no food like a spider...

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  3. Cool idea! You do have it tough with all those restrictions, ha ha.

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  4. I've heard about this spaghetti taco thing - as you say it became an internet sensation. I know my partner would actually love this, so I've got to give it a try when he gets back from overseas - think I'd want some sauce though :-)
    Sue

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  5. Oh, ours did have sauce - we used pureed salsa. The original used spaghetti sauce, tho. I think pesto sauce with sliced grilled chicken on top would also be neat.

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  6. I am laughing. Linguini is not going to keep Meredith any more happy than spaghetti. You knew that.

    This was a great read and an interesting recipe. I plan to make tacos this week but I don't think, I am going for spaghetti tacos. Someday, maybe.

    Thanks for linking up to MMM.

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  7. oh no, linguini is perfectly fine for Meredith. I checked with her before buying it. I guess she's not afraid of things that look like tapeworms. She's even okay with super-thin vermicelli since it looks like hair and not snakes.

    Keep laughing.

    I might try and pass tofu noodles as regular pasta for Jacob (for the protein) next time, but I don't think the flavour and texture will pass.

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  8. I think this is the best recipe I've read all week! I could be Wonder Woman and Julia Child rolled into one (but I'm thinkin' the costume would just look silly on Julia)if I made this for my step son. Tacos are his absolute favorite and while he prefers what I call the "plastic cheese" that oozes - rather than the sprinkly stuff, I'm pretty sure he would scarf these down like there's no tomorrow!

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  9. "plastic cheese?" Jacob calls it "square cheese." And besides the powdered cheese from boxed macaroni (used in Jacob's tacos), that's the only cheese he'll eat. Ungh.

    I was just happy there I could make him something beyond a grilled cheese sandwich.

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  10. What a fun meal for kids of all ages! Loved your tapeworm comment!

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  11. Ha! I love it! Seriously, I've been "meaning" to make spaghetti tacos for the kids for a while...but trying to figure out how to make it actually be appetizing. These sound so fun! Great idea...so glad you shared this one w/ the hearth and soul hop this week, Dan! =)

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  12. This is certainly a "fun" meal. I am trying to wrap my mind around it LOL - I love spaghetti and I love tacos, but taking Spencer's advice on food scares me a bit LOL! I am sure my kids would love this! Thanks for sharing this with us at the hearth and soul hop!

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  13. @Christy: think of Spencer as a hand-held pasta visionary! As long as it's spaghetti or linguini, it stays in the shell or wrap and you can add any sauce you like: pesto, vodka/cream, tomato, cheese, etc.

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  14. My kids keep asking for spaghetti tacos. Now I finally know why. Eeeeesh!

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