Fideo sangrado (bloody fideo), or when you want hot to look it

Fideo Sangrado

You're looking at spicy. This is more than "kick it up a notch."

It isn't blow out your eardrums and call the fire department hot, but it's in the red zone.

I've been experimenting with beets. I like them. And I can understand why some folks don't. They can be pretty earthy tasting. On the other hand, their pungency is a welcome improvement over dried soybeans that are being marketed as a snack.

Excuse me, but dry roasted edamame (soybeans) isn't a snack. These are capsules of dirt. Dry, tasteless, choke-me-and-die! dirt tablets.

But I digress. I am trying to do with beets what other people try to do with tofu (a slightly more palatable soy-based invention than edamame). But I have more to work with because, guess what?, beets actually taste like something.

Yes, this is a bit radical. And I know, traditionally, fideo is like Mexican chicken soup. It's usually fideo in a chicken broth-based soup. Pardon, for those who may ask, what is fideo?, this is a Hispanic spaghetti, or short-stemmed type of spaghetti.

What I'm aiming for here is a kind of hot, hearty soup - something filling to eat on a cold day. I had a few of those here in south Florida last week; yes, actually inspired me to go out and by a light coat.

I love how beets turn the water a deep purple-red. But I don't want my fideo to taste like beets. I want my fideo to have a more full-bodied taste. Go for it!

Boiling 2 1/2 cups of water (because that's how much water my little package of fideo said to use), adding four cubes of Knorr Cilantro Mini Cubes seasoning, chop a beet (I say a beet because I had a really, really big beet in the fridge; you may want to use two or three), and boil.

Nothing hot about that, yet! We'll have to fix that. Two Kiolbassa smoked beef with jalapeno sausages, one serrano pepper - slice up both and toss them in the soup. Grab the paprika and shake in vigorously; just keep shaking it in there for close to a minute.

And grab the crushed red pepper, shake that in for another minute.

Now, I boiled the fideo for about 12 minutes (as per package instructions), and it didn't look right. I suppose I could have stopped boiling. It was cooked. But the chunks of beets were so much larger, I had a 'presentation' problem. So, I over-boiled and got the fideo a lot thicker than it needed to be.

And that's how I ended up with the picture above. Visually, the fideo sits shoulder-to-shoulder with the beets and sausage, rather than looking like some puny minor ingredient. Well, it is called fideo sangrado!

As it boiled, I tasted it and ended up adding a little extra salt. I always try to be conservative with the salt shaker. It turned out great, to my taste. But you may want to go easier on the heat ingredients; I was trying to peel paint with this stuff.

Buen provecho!