We had plentiful leftovers from a pork roast my husband had smoked, so I was searching for something tasty to do with them. Of course, I could do pork fried rice or a Vietnamese sandwich, but I didn’t think the smoky flavor would work with Asian. I found this recipe at Group Recipes, and it sounded delish, but I’d never had pork with pasta before and wasn’t too sure how it would turn out.

And I was right, on both counts. The sauce was absolutely yummy, but pork and pasta… eh, a little weird.

I thought salmon would be a better match for the sauce, so we tried that the following week. The flavor combination was good, but stirring the baked salmon into the pasta was a mistake, texture-wise. I think it would work great to serve the salmon filet on top of or beside the pasta, but it just got too shredded and mushy when stirred in.

I haven’t tried them yet, but I think shrimp or chicken would be the perfect meat for this dish.

Oh, and if you’re a spice wimp like me, you might want to knock the ancho chile down to 2 or 3 teaspoons. My hubs and daughter probably would have liked it just fine at triple that, but when I’m making the dish, I get to make the call!

A great side dish for this would be my Slightly Spicy Slaw.