This dinner was especially created to celebrate one of my favorite food events. Presto Pasta Nights will celebrated its 100th week tomorrow (Ruth and all the hosts have done an excellent job all this time) and that is a good reason to celebrate. And what do we do to celebrate in special occasions like this? We drink champagne of course, but have you ever thought about eating it?

Ever since I realized this one was going to be a big celebration I had been thinking about a dish especially created for it, one that reflected my love for Italian and Mexican cuisines. So I dug deep in my pantry and fridge and got the perfect ingredients for a celebratory dish. Here now I present to you my Chile de arbol tilapia over champagne pasta. That is a mouthful, I know, but the dish was very easy to make and the flavors were amazing.

Chile de arbol tilapia over champagne pasta
Makes 4 servings

The ingredients:

• 2 lbs tilapia fillets
• 4-6 chiles de arbol (found in the Mexican or Latino food section of the supermarket or online here) Courtesy of my friend Jill.
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 TBSP peppercorn Melange Courtesy of my friend Jerry.
• the juice of 2 limes
• 1 lb spaghetti
• 2 TBSP butter
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup champagne
• 1/2 cup sour crem
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

The how-tos:

1. Heat up a heavy skillet and roast chiles de arbol, cinnamon stick and peppercorn for about 7 minutes stirring constantly.
2. Grind spices using a blender on high speed or a grinder.
3. Pour the lime juice over the tilapia fillets and rub the spices all over them.
4. Grilled fillets until cooked on an electric grill.
5. Cook pasta al dente and drain.
6. While the pasta is cooking melt butter in a large heavy skillet and sautee garlic just until it starts to turn brown. Add champagne and bring to a boil. It shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes.
7. Add cream and cheese to the sauce, reduce heat to low and stir constantly for 5 minutes.
8. Add pasta to the skillet and toss to cover with the sauce.
9. Plate the pasta with the fish over it and sprinkle with queso fresco and enjoy!

The afterthoughts:

• The spices on the tilapia gave the otherwise bland fish a lot of flavor and the pasta sauce was just amazing. I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out or how the flavors would blend on the dish, but they were just perfect for my taste.
• Chiles de arbol are very spicy little peppers. If you don’t have a high tolerance for spicy foods reduce the amount of chiles.
• If chiles de arbol are not available, you may use any other dried peppers or hot pepper powder.

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But that’s not the only way I am celebrating this event. This past weekend some friends, Jon and I made ravioli at my friend Andy’s place. He is also a foodie at heart, even though he doesn’t have a blog. We (he did most of the job) made pesto pasta filled with spinach, potato and cheese and they were so good. We are real pasta lovers!

I think this is a great opportunity to mention another event related to pasta. MarxFoods.com is giving away 5 lbs of artisan ravioli! Check out all the different shapes they have, aren’t they gorgeous? If I win I am going to choose the sacchettes just because I love the shape. What a great pasta celebration!

¡Buen provecho!