Tomato, Beans, and Calabresi

It's amazing what kind of meals can be born of desperation. Stuck with the contents of my pantry for dinner, I figured I'd make a tomato-based pasta sauce with a can of 4-bean mix and see what vegies I had in the freezer to add to it. But on my rummage through the fridge I unearthed an as-yet untouched stick of calabresi salami. Oooooh. This might have some potential.

I sliced about half the salami stick (so about 125g) into thin diagonal pieces, then cut these in half, cos it's all about aesthetics, y'know ;-) I may have nibbled a few pieces too... mmm spicy. I gave these a light fry in a dry pan then turned them out onto some paper towel and used some more paper towel to wipe the pan to get rid of most of the oil.

After that I threw a 400g can of diced tomatoes in with a handful of dried herbs and set it over a low heat. I drained a can of four-bean mix and tossed those into the tomatoes. Then I thought "hm, wonder if this'll thicken up...." so I mixed a bit of cornflour with a little water in the tomato tin and added that too. I let this simmer and thicken while the pasta cooked, and added the salami for the last 5 minutes.

Once I'd drained the pasta I added the sauce and mixed it all together. The sauce clung to the pasta very nicely, if I do say so myself. There was a nice tinge of spice through the dish, and I can't wait to have the leftovers tomorrow. This dish can stand a bit of refinement, but for a first try I'll call it a winner. It might not look the best, but dang, the flavour was spot on. And the average cost per serve? Damn cheap. Perfect for those times when you're out of dosh, and it's not quite pay-day.