Quarantine Recipe: Pasta De Lata

I’m sharing this very old recipe I learned from my mom when I was a little child. Curious about cooking, I would annoy my mother in the kitchen. I’d beg her to let me hold a pan, a spatula, or anything that would merit “being a chef,” I’d say. At first, she would let me peel stuff, wash pots, and slice vegetables. While I begrudgingly obeyed, I would insist on cooking a real dish. This was probably the first recipe she let me try to make on my own. It’s very easy for a 10-year-old novice. You literally just open up canned goods, put everything together, and pop it in the oven!

I haven’t made this dish in ages! Because of the enhanced community quarantine in our area, our grocery trips are limited and my pantry is stocked with canned goods. What can I make using just de latas in my pantry, I asked myself one night. And then I remembered this recipe. My mom didn’t have a name for it, but I’m calling it now as “Pasta de Lata!”

We use corned beef, cream of mushroom soup, corn kernels, spaghetti, and quick melt cheese. You can use mozzarella, of course, if you happen to have some in your kitchen. For this batch, I used just one can of mushroom soup because I didn’t have more. Preferably, I’d use two cans for a creamier yield. Also, I would have liked to use cream corn kernels, but I also didn’t have a can in stock.

Recipe’s below, and also a video of me making this dish. I hope you try to make it! It’s a dish from my kitchen to yours—creamy, salty, with a hint of sweetness from the corn. Since it’s very easy and simple to make, you can have the kids help out in the kitchen. It’s a great activity for this quarantine season!

Pasta de Lata

• Servings: 4
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 40 mins
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

A very easy dish you can make using only canned goods--for when you want something delicious but you can't go out to buy stuff!

Ingredients

• 2 small cans of corned beef
• 2 cans of Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup
• 1 can of Cream-style Corn Kernels
• 1 cup grated cheese
• 250g spaghetti

Directions

1. Cook pasta until al dente
2. Sautee corned beef in olive oil or butter, with onions and garlic.
3. In a deep baking dish, layer all ingredients: pasta, cream of mushroom, corned beef, corn, pasta, and repeat.
4. Top with the cheese.
5. Bake in 200C oven for 30 minutes.

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Recreating Starbucks’ Cold Foam Iced Espresso at Home

This quarantine life makes me miss a lot of things, like our usual coffee runs at Starbucks. In hindsight, craving for commercial, overpriced coffee seems so trivial now with all the world’s problems. If anything, this ECQ serves a reset button for many of us, myself included–a reminder that often, the most meaningful things in life are also the simplest.

I find myself making a lot of things in the house, using simple and affordable ingredients. You wouldn’t believe how easy and cheap it is to enjoy a venti cold foam iced espresso at home! All you need are some coffee, ice, sugar, and skim milk.

Here’s a video I made while I tried to recreate my all-time favorite drink from Starbucks: (shameless plug: please like the video and subscribe to the channel! :))

This drink is a great way to relax and refresh during a hot afternoon. Try it yourself and let me know how it goes!

~Ingredients (for a venti-sized drink)~

2 tbsp instant coffee powder mixed with 1/2 cup of water (or 2 shots of espresso)

Ice to fill the glass

1 cup skim milk

2 tbsp white sugar

~Directions~

Blend the milk + sugar using a high-speed blender for about 3 to 5 minutes.

Make your coffee while the blender is running.

Put ice into the glass, then pour your coffee.

Top with the milk and scoop out as much foam as you can.

Enjoy!