A recipe I love to cook, but cannot eat. I made it up as I went along one day, because of ingredients I had on hand.
My family and also guests just LOVE this! I use cuttlefish rather than squid, as it has an excellent texture and is far more giving than squid but you can use squid if preferred.
Also, the fresher the ingredients, the better and lighter flavour it has. Of course if you only have dried herbs and/or canned cherry tomatoes, that's ok.
Tomato Chilli Seafood Pasta.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon of butter
1 tablespoon good olive oil.
250G Cuttlefish- cut into strips, or into 3cm x 3cm squares and scored. ( if you choose to use squares, the scoring helps them curl)
250G Green Prawns - deheaded and deveined
8-12 scallops- roe on or off, your choice.
1 400g punnet Medley Tomatoes or if you cannot get those a punnet of cherry or grape tomatoes are fine.( I like the medley for colour mainly)- halved.
1/2 cup dry white wine ( a good one and serve the same wine you are cooking with)
2 cloves garlic - smashed and finely chopped
1 handful of baby basil leaves - torn
1 tablespoon fresh lemon thyme ( leaves from approx 5 branches) - if you only have standard thyme, then add the zest of one lemon.
1 good handful of flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped.
1 fresh red chili - de-seeded and chopped - or a heaped teaspoon of dried chili flakes.
500G of long, flat pasta of your choice: papadelle,linguine, fettucine. (It's great with spinach linguine)FRESH not DRIED.
Salt and pepper to taste. (cracked pepper and sea or rock salt)
Method:
Put water onto boil for the pasta.
Melt butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil in large heavy based pan...even a paella pan. (I use my double handled french roaster)
Flash seafood only for a little colouration. Remove and set aside.
To pan, add garlic,chili and also wine and deglaze.
Add tomatoes and cook off until they start to soften a little, fold gently so as not to break the tomatoes too much.
Add lemon thyme (or thyme and lemon zest) and stir
When the water has boiled for pasta add and cook for determined time ( 5-7mins)
3 or so mins into the pasta cooking, add flashed seafood. crack salt and pepper to taste.
When pasta is al dente' drain off and add to the seafood/tomato mix...gently fold through.
Finally, add the torn basil leaves and parsley and fold through until they wilt a little.
Serve up in individual pasta bowls or in a huge bowl for "family style" dining.
Serve with crusty bread and green salad and a delicious white wine!
Enjoy!