This is a recipe my mother made when there was just a little bit of catsup aka ketchup left in the bottle. We had a feedlot on our farm, so she always served it with what she called 'hamburgers on the plate' meaning without a bun. Hotdogs are good with this, either slice them or leave them whole and cook them on top of the noodles.

Sopa means soup in Spanish. Fideo is vermicelli in coils, the same size pasta as angel hair pasta. You can use angel hair for this. You can add just about anything - green chile, yellow mustard, baked beans (don't get carried away). The one thing I never put on it is cheese because then it might taste like everything else, but you could.



Sopa de Fideo

Fine diameter pasta such as Fideo or angel hair pasta
1 onion, diced
1/4 - 1/2 cup catsup (the bottom of the bottle)
Water
Salt and pepper
(Cumin)
(Garlic powder)
(Yellow mustard)

In a skillet that has a lid, fry the pasta in hot oil until just changing color. Be careful, it burns quickly, and you might end up with some dark bits, which is okay. Fish it out and set aside. When I have the coils, I often crumble them, and I always break the long pasta into shorter pieces. Sauté the diced onion in the oil until transparent on medium-low heat. Return the pasta to the pan. If you have the end of a bottle of catsup, fill it 1/2 way with water and shake it to dissolve the remaining catsup in the bottle. Pour into the skillet with the seasonings and enough additional water to make it pretty runny so the pasta can absorb it. Cover and simmer on medium low until liquid is absorbed and the pasta is cooked. You may need to add more liquid.

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I'm making this for supper tonight because I have some of those fancy Oscar Mayer hot dogs that are supposed to be better for us: Oscar Mayer Selects Supreme - Uncured, No Nitrates or Nitrites, . One thing for sure: they are smaller than regular hot dogs.