As children, in Mexico, my mom would pick us up after school at 2 p.m., and she would take us home for lunch. One of my favorite side dishes at lunch were Fideos. Fideos were angel hair type noodles prepared Mexican style. My two brothers and I loved Fideos, and given the chance we would have eaten them every day for lunch.

Fideos

3 tablespoons canola oil
1 eight to nine ounce package of angel hair pasta nests
1 fifteen ounce can tomato sauce
2 ripe tomatoes quartered
1/8th onion
2 garlic cloves
2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon crushed red chili peppers (optional)

Method

Pour the canola oil into a large pot and warm it up over medium heat. Place the pasta nests in the pot and spread them out in a single layer on top of the oil. Allow the nests to toast to a golden brown. When one side has browned, turn them over with a pair of tongs, and brown them on the other side.

When the pasta nests have browned on both sides, break them up with the pair tongs, lower the heat and continue to mix consistently.
While keeping an eye on the pasta, and making sure it doesn’t burn, prepare the sauce, by placing all of the remaining ingredients in a blender and liquefy.

Raise the heat to high, and When the pot is very hot add the sauce from the blender. Bring the noodles in the sauce to a boil, stir well, lower the heat, cover, and allow to simmer 5 – 7 minutes. You will now see that most of the sauce has been absorbed, and the Fideos are cooked. Remove them from heat, and transfer them to a serving dish. The Fideos will continue to absorb the sauce.

If desired, sprinkle the crushed chili peppers over the Fideos, serve very hot, and enjoy!