Pasta turned out to be Spanish food (5)
I believe the answer is:
tapas
'to be spanish food' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'pasta turned' is the wordplay.
'turned' indicates an anagram.
'pasta' is an anagram of 'TAPAS'.
'out' is the link.
(Other definitions for tapas that I've seen before include "sort of bar in Benidorm?" , "taste of Spain?" , "Spanish appetiser" , "Small Spanish dishes" , "The Spanish scoff" .)