Alaska for real
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

NOTHING SAYS RURAL BUSH ALASKA LIKE SPAM SPAGHETTI

11/7/2015

6 Comments

 
Picture
     Yesterday I climbed onto my parents' floathouse roof to remove their chimney cap and drop a brush down the chimney. As a reward, my mom invited me to dinner with nostalgia on the menu.
      Spam Spaghetti!
      When we were kids we didn't have electricity for a freezer or refrigerator, so, besides lots of fresh seafood, venison and duck, we ate a lot of canned products. And, since it was cheap back in the day, my parents stocked up on cases of Spam. I could do the whole Bubba-with-shrimp routine from Forrest Gump, but you know it already. Suffice to say, we had Spam prepared in every way known to man (and maybe those aliens from The Simpsons).
      But I think my whole family would agree that Spam spaghetti holds a special place in all our hearts.
      Only last week, my oldest brother stopped by to barter a couple vacuum-packed bags of salmon he'd caught and smoked for a couple cans of Spam because he was In The Mood (for some Spam Spaghetti, that is).
     "You have to have that every now and then," he said, and we knew exactly what he meant.
     My two youngest brothers have always been ardent, even obssessive, fanboys for Spam. (See photo below.) They've told me that sometimes they'll take a break from work (they now live in Ketchikan), go down to the grocery store, buy a can of Spam and eat it raw. Now that's true love, more real than Alaskan Bush People and more touching than the end of Princess Bride.
     When my nephew Erik stayed with us we soon corrupted his unblemished city tastes. By the time he went back home to Florida, his favorite sandwich was 2 naked pieces of bread slapped around a hunk of raw Spam. And when it was time to throw a few steaks on the barbie, he insisted his be traded out for--you guessed it, a nice chunk of Spam.
     Two more nephews who came to live with us, Sterling and Ethan, developed a nonstop hankering for homemade Spam hotpockets.
     But I think I'm safe in saying Spam spaghetti was always the hands down favorite.
Picture
     My most memorable Spam spaghetti dinner came after my one experience of commercial longlining for halibut--by hand.
     A girl who attended the same bush school as I had, and was my sister-in-law at the time, talked me into going in on the fishing trip with her.
     The vessel we had at our disposal was a 21-foot speedboat with a trunk cabin and canopy. The only thing was, the inboard engine had gone out on it, so to move it and steer it, we had a 13-foot, open Boston Whaler powered by a 25 hp Mercury outboard lashed alongside it. The combination was unwieldy at the best of times and a complete nightmare in heavy seas--as we were to find out.
     I also disovered that hauling in hundreds of feet of longline with heavy fish attached by hand was not the most fun I'd ever had. Especially when you forgot to wear rubber gloves and you were pulling in line encased in stinging jellyfish tentacles. (By the way, just for future reference, for those taking notes, do not EVER rub your eyes after practicing the above behavior.)
     We also found we'd forgotten to bring a knife. We discovered this when, because of the awkward steering situation, we backed over our own line and got it caught in the prop.
     So there we were. Befouled and drifting with no help in sight--nothing but wilderness and water on all sides of us. Fortunately, I had a fingernail clipper on me. We freed the rope from the prop a tiny strand at a time. Who said women aren't resourceful in clutch situations of their own making?
     On the last day of the halibut opening we had to go pull our line in a rising gale. Big combers were stacking up with spray lashing us as we hauled line hand over hand and battled the wind, waves and a terrific tidal current. The two boats fought each other with the fury of bucks in rutting season, rising up and repeatedly slamming each other as viciously as possible. When we got the last buoy on board we were shaking and exhausted, but we still had to steer our ungainly albatross of a boat-combination to a safe harbor.
     We finally dropped anchor in a small bay near my parents' floathouse. By then we didn't have the strength to crawl out of our wet clothes, let alone fix something to eat.
     Will I ever forget the life-reaffirming and rejuvenating experience when my mom sent my dad to us in the skiff bearing two heaping plates of foil-covered, piping hot Spam spaghetti?
     That first bite, my friends, was a moment for the ages.
Picture
For those of you who want to experience the REAL taste of bush Alaska, here you go (my version).

SPAM SPAGHETTI

1 8-oz package of spaghetti noodles (I'm gluten free, so I use corn spaghetti)
1 tablespoon of extra virgin, cold pressed olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1/2 can of Spam, diced
1/2 6-oz can of pitted black olives, diced
1 15-oz can of tomato sauce
And a sprinkling of each according to taste:
      red pepper flakes
      garlic powder
      Old Bay seasoning (my mom uses different Mrs. Dash seasonings)

Optional: Lemon, Tajin seasoning.

Put pot of water on to boil. Put olive oil in a skillet. Saute the diced Spam, onion and olives. Add the tomato sauce and seasonings. Let simmer while the noodles are cooking. When noodles are al dente,* drain. Mix in the sauce, or pour a portion of the sauce over individual plates of noodles.

For zest use fresh lemons squeezed over the meal, to taste. Or try Tajin, a delicious, lime-flavored seasoning that we were turned onto by Jerry Hernandez, who went above and beyond the line of duty while shopping for us when he was in charge of rural grocery orders at Tatsuda's market in Ketchikan.


*We've found that a good test for when noodles are al dente is to fling them at the ceiling. When they stick, they're done. Don't forget to clean them off the ceiling later.
Picture
6 Comments
Robin Bifoss-Neilson
9/2/2015 08:29:27 am

Im having Spam spaghetti tonight!

Reply
ADOW
9/2/2015 10:21:33 am

As. You. Wishhhhh. True love, it's a beautiful thing. What should I send you and Spam for your golden anniversary?

Reply
Megan duncanson link
9/2/2015 10:23:35 am

Man....that sure sounds good!!! Putting in my request for October!! I haven't had Spam spaghetti since I was in Hawaii and had a hankering for it, so whipped some up...my Japanese roommates thought I was a little Looney, hahaha! I offered them some and they just politely backed away, hehe ☺

Reply
ADOW
9/2/2015 12:06:34 pm

It's a date! Spam spaghetti in October. Weird about your friends in college. What was wrong with them?

Reply
Vickie Griggs
9/3/2015 04:32:13 am

I learned that SPAM was a staple in Hawaii during WWII and it continues to be a favorite today. We had it often as kids growing up in the UP especially when visiting your great grandparents. The part about the fishing trip was interesting, too.

Reply
ADOW
9/3/2015 05:59:48 am

I always loved hearing about my grandma's childood, and my mom's, but they forgot to mention Spam--exactly the part kids would like to hear most about! :-)

Uncle John always loved that fishing story and I always said I'd write it up and here it is.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner


    Author

    Tara Neilson (ADOW)

    Picture
    Click on the photo to purchase my memoir

    Archives

    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015

    Categories

    All
    Alaska
    Alaskan Movie Review
    Animals
    Art
    Authors
    Birds
    Books
    Building Projects
    Chores
    Communications
    Entertainment
    Family
    Fish
    Foodie
    From The Dairy Crate
    Guest Blogs
    Health
    History
    Hobbies & Crafts
    Interviews
    Jobs
    Legendary Alaskans
    Library
    Logging
    Megans Art
    Monster Busting
    My Book
    My Column
    Myths
    Nostalgia
    Odds N Ends
    Odds-N-Ends
    Phenomena
    Photo Journal
    Raised In Ruins
    Re Purposing
    Re-purposing
    RTV
    Seasons
    Shipwreck Salvage
    Travel
    Videos
    Weather
    White Knuckles
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Tara Neilson©


  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact