Spaghetti Aglio Olio with Luncheon Meat

Can, ah? Use luncheon meat to make spaghetti aglio olio? Of course, can. Just google and you will see lots of people doing this way ahead of me.

For me if there is one more thing that evokes childhood memories besides this one, it would be luncheon meat, that pink salty and oily delicious slab of meat that comes out of a can. 

Grandma did wonders with it - fried luncheon meat (coated with beaten egg), luncheon meat omelette and luncheon meat sandwiches, doused with copious amounts of tomato ketchup.

What I like is luncheon meat fresh from the can, I think it tastes delicious at room temperature. Ooohhh.... Well, I used to buy luncheon meat until my partner gave me a gentle lecture about the health hazards posed by canned/cured meat.

So I laid off luncheon meat for a while until Kris did a post on omelettes and one of them was a luncheon meat omelette. Well, that did it!

So I sneaked into the oink oink shop and got me not one but two cans of luncheon meat (it was on offer and comes with a plastic container).

After using the luncheon meat to make omelette, I suddenly had a craving for spaghetti aglio olio and since I've already cooked that with bacon, naturally luncheon meat should be next.

You don't need a recipe for this. But just in case any greenhorn wants to cook this, I'll just narrate what I did.

Just before I started, I put the spaghetti to boil. While all that was going on, I cut 2 slices of luncheon meat into cubes. Then I chopped up 4 cloves of garlic and sliced up some baby portobello mushrooms.

Heat a small amount of oil in a non-stick pan and when oil is hot, fry the luncheon meat first. Fry until they are lightly browned and remove from pan.

Next fry the garlic briefly until aromatic (don't brown it) and add mushrooms. Fry until the mushrooms are wilted. Hopefully, by this time, your spaghetti is done and just use a pair of tongs to transfer the spaghetti into the pan. 

Toss the spaghetti with the garlic and mushrooms and add the fried luncheon meat. Season with salt and pepper and add chili flakes if you like. Transfer to a plate and enjoy!