I won't insult you with "frauthenctic" claims. This is a dish without provenance. My girl Angela had a birthday earlier this week. She's a lady who has always had a healthy relationship with food. So I wanted to invent a new dish in her honour. Sure, it's influenced by Italian cooking and essentially built around an astoundingly good spaghetti. But, beyond that, there's no florid tale. I invented it myself.
This is a very simple but succulent dish, spaghetti with scallops, prawns and chillies. It's entirely pescatarian, ideal for summer, so forgive me if I don't feel the need to make it otherwise. And it takes less than 30 mins to prepare.
I guess you could do the cheese thing if you want, but I'm serving it without and with more citric freshness (and pleasing a few Italians therewith).
This recipe is for two adults. I don't need to explain the basics of expanding a recipe...
The images shown here are a combination of the dish I created and the true "baci", Ms Angela Reed, cooking her version of the recipe of Faial in the Azores using a classic sepia spaghetti. Yes, kids, we're just so global.
Shopping list
For the tomato sauce
1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
1 large onion, chopped
20ml extra virgin olive oil
1 cube or jelly of vegetable stock
2 heaped tbspns tomato concentrate or tomato purée
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and grated, crushed or finely chopped
A clutch of fresh basil leaves
black pepper/salt to taste
For the spaghetti with prawn, scallops and chilli
8 or more king prawns per diner; cooked and shelled
6 or more scallops per diner; fresh (without roe), fresh or defrosted
3 cloves of fresh garlic
Approx. 150g dried pasta per diner. This dish was actually built around the astounding tricolore spaghetti with garlic and chilli from Dalla Costa, an iteration of the noodle in which the chilli really is very present, genuinely pepperoncino. Thus, I really can't say much else other than tagliatelle di seppia or other long "ribbon" pastas work well if you really don't like spicy flavours
Approx. 2 tbspns capers, finely chopped
The zest of 1 lemon
Approx. 1 glass white wine
5 to 6 sundried tomatoes, finely chopped
Approx. 100g spinach; fresh or frozen, steamed and chopped
Extra virgin olive oil
Black pepper to taste
For the salad
Approx. 70g rocket (arugula)
1 artichoke; cooked or, better still, from a preserve bottle
Approx. ¼ a cucumber
extra virgin olive oil
balsamic vinegar
fresh lemon zest (see above)
Cooking method
the sauce
Make the sauce first. You can do this days before and store it in an airtight container in the fridge. Or, frankly, buy it from the supermarket or deli. It's a classic tomato sauce that you will use in sparing quantities in this recipe. Otherwise, start cooking it a good time before preparing the main dish. Whichever way, even these quantities will make more than you actually need.
Heat the olive oil on a high in a reasonably deep pan. Add the garlic and onions and ensure that they brown
Add the chopped tomatoes and bring to the boil, allowing them to boil vigorously for 7 to 10 mins. Break up the tomatoes with a spoon and stir, preventing sticking
Season with salt/pepper; add the basil, chopped or as whole leaves if preferred
Add approx. 1 cup of hot stock and the tomato concentrate/purée. Stir thoroughly, cover and reduce the heat. Allow to simmer for at least 30 mins on a low heat, stirring occasionally. You can cook this sauce for anywhere between 40 mins and 3 hours, adjusting the temperature as needed. You decide. The longer, the better.
The dish
Place the fresh or defrosted king prawns and scallops in a bowl. Sprinkle over half of the lemon zest. Pour in the white wine, season with black pepper and cover. Allow to marinade for at least 30 mins, ideally for a few hours
Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. While the water is heating, in individual salad bowls or a large bowl, add the rocket, cucumber and sliced artichoke. Finally add the remaining lemon zest. Dress with balsamic vinegar and olive oil at the table
When the pot of salted water is boiling vigorously, add the the spaghetti (or other pasta of choice). The spaghetti will take about 9 mins to cook
In a small frying pan, heat a few tbspns of olive oil. When hot, add the garlic, followed by the capers and diced sundried tomatoes. Shortly afterwards, add the contents of the marinade dish, allowing the white wine to cook off, but not overcooking the king prawns and scallops. As soon as they are done (only a few minutes), turn off the heat and cover and deal with the pasta. NB: if using defrosted seafood, you may need to empty some liquid out of the pan to cook down correctly. It's a "thing" with frozen seafood
When the pasta is cooked, drain and add the tomato sauce (heating it first in a microwave of by other means) and the spinach. Stir in slowly, gently but thoroughly
Add the seafood mixture and fold in. Add enough tomato sauce to coat the pasta but not "drown" it. Plate and serve with the salad
Pairings
This is a new dish created in honour of my friend Angela's birthday. I should have planned for champagne or franciacorta. My bad: I didn't. So I had it with a Santa Caterina
Vermentino that I've had stashed away for a good few years since bringing it back from Liguria. It seemed like the right occasion and, yes, it was.
But obviously we will ask Karel. After all, this strikes me as a dish he might like.
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