Thursday, 19 November 2009

• IRLF Pasta Challenge: Linguine con Frutti di Mare

  Editor's Note: This post appears as part of IRLF's Weekly Challenge series.
  
  

  
  

  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  

  
  

  
  I've always had an affinity for the sea.
  
  Growing up near the ocean is a wonderful thing.  I've spent most of my life near the ocean in one place or another; and returning to tropical Pacific Blue is one of the major reasons I live in Hawai'i now.  One thing I have always loved, and found in common with seaside communities around the world, is the bounty of the fisherman's harvest prepared in rustic ways by the fishmonger's wives in their homes for their husbands returning from a day on the sea or on the docks.
  
  
  Our Linguine con Frutti di Mare is hearty in flavor, yet light in the stomach; complex in flavor and texture combinations, yet so simple in making use of fresh vegetables and seafoods, heftily spooned over al dente Linguine and served with warm, crusty Italian country bread.
  
  We start by sauteing Fresh Tomatoes in Olive Oil until it forms the base of a sauce; into which we add Garlic and Green Olives, before splashing in Marsala wine to open up additional flavor compounds in the Sauce and to give it an added level of richness.  We then dump in our bounty of Seafood -- Clams, Prawns, Scallops, Calamari and firm-fleshed Fish, and let it cook, releasing its natural ocean flavor into the Sauce; before adding roughly chopped Basil at the end, just before serving.
  
  
  

  
  
  Cherry Tomatoes, Green Olives, Garlic, Basil
  
  
  
  
  Prawns, Clams, Calamari, Diver Scallops, Escolar
  

  
  
  This is a simple dish that can be made quickly enough for a weeknight meal, but yet is worthy of serving dinner guests too.  This also a fairly inexpensive dish also (assuming you have things like olive oil), at least in areas that have access to seafood.  In my preparation for four:
  
  

  Calamari:  $1.70
  Escolar:  $3.30
  Prawns:  $3.50
  Clams:  $4.50
  Basil:  $0.50
  Linguine:  $1.50
  Tomatoes:  $1.50
  Green Olives:  $0.50
  Garlic:  $0.30
  Wine:  $0.70
  

  
  For a total of about $18.00, leaving just enough to buy a nice loaf of crusty Italian Bread too with the change from a $20 bill; or $4.50 each for 4 dinner sized portions.  Not bad for a dish that would cost nearly four times that in a restaurant.
  
  Alright, let's do this.
  
  
  I N G R E D I E N T S:
  
  

  2 Tbsp Butter, Unsalted
  2 Tbsp Olive Oil
  1 Handful Cherry Tomatoes, halved
  8 Green Olives, thinly sliced (not black, GREEN - important)
  4 Cloves Garlic, roughly chopped
  1 Handful Basil, roughly chopped
  1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning
  1/2 Cup Wine (I used Marsala for this)
  
  The Seafood you use is up to you.  I used Clams, Prawns, Calamari, Diver Scallops and Firm-Fleshed Fish.  Some combination of these is desirable.  The whole idea of this dish is the bountiful Fisherman's Harvest, so go wild with whatever you can get fresh and use a lot of whatever Seafood you want to.
  
  

  
  P R O C E D U R E:
  
  

  
  
  
  
  Boil your pasta.  I like using Linguine for this type of dish.  Fettuccine is too wide, Spaghetti and Angel Hair work too.  Make sure you use enough water -- 1 gallon to every 1 pound of pasta.  For more tips on how to cook perfect pasta, I cover it in this entry here:  Chicken with Garlic Mushroom Sauce Pasta.
  
  
  
  
  When your pan is hot, add your Olive Oil and Butter; spread it around to coat the pan, and then add your Halved Cherry Tomatoes.  Smash them up so that the Tomatoes release all of their flesh.  Cook for about 3 minutes.
  
  
  
  
  
  Add your Sliced Green Olives, Garlic, Italian Seasoning, and cook for another 3 minutes.
  
  
  
  
  Add your Wine, and cook for another 3 minutes.
  
  
  
  
  Add your Seafood, and cook another 3 minutes.
  
  
  
  
  Stir it around, cook for another 1-2 minutes.  Make sure you flip thicker pieces, and let the clams open up.
  
  
  
  
  Toss with your roughly chopped Basil.
  

  
  
  
  
  

  Done!
  

  
  
  
  
  

  * * * * *
  

  
  
  
  
  Frutti di Mare means, literally, "Fruit of the Sea."
  
  This is a dish I used to make, seaside, over small fires we would make in the sand on the beach in the evening as we watched the sun set into the ocean.  It's an experience I love, sitting there on a small wooden stool, giant wok in hand over fire built with collected driftwood; skin with that thin layer of sea salt on it, hair nappy from the dried seawater, and face tight after a day of diving on the reefs offshore. 
  
  We would free-dive then, with our nets and spearguns, catching our food; or picking it off of the rocks -- crabs, lobsters off of the sea floor, mussels on the rocks... sometimes we would even unlatch sea urchins out of their burrows for Uni (sea urchin roe) that could not be any fresher.  Through the day, we would fillet and part out our fish, eating it on the spot with our diving knives as Sashimi, or we would save it for our evening feast of our Fruits of the Sea at night.
  
  Those were good times then, times long gone; but times I look forward to again one day.  New friends, gathering together, maybe even in old places; making new memories, sharing good food and drink in each others' good company -- perhaps even here, some day, at a certain little beach house on a little strip of beach in front of a little reef, on this little island I now call home.
  
  My Love and Aloha to you, from these Islands of Hawai'i. 
  

  
  

  What is your favorite Pasta (or Italian) dish?  And where did you have it?
  

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