Fettucini Pescatora

I'm not Italian so whenever I hear of a pasta pescatora it always has this allure of a Shirley Valentine scene with me sitting at an ocean side table, a candle, a glass of white wine and a wonderful plate of pescatora. Then I open my eyes and find myself in my own Toronto kitchen making tomato and seafood pasta and somehow it just isn't the same. UNTIL.... you taste it. It's not that often that I do a hip hip hurray routine for a dish but this one ... it's really something else.

Motivated by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast and this week's charming, witty, efficient, kind and generous host Psychgrad of Equal Opportunity Kitchen I wanted to submit this dish for Presto Pasta Nights.






Ingredients

8 oz pkg of rice fettucini (you could use a different pasta)
1/2 cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic, sliced
6-8 manilla clams **
6 sea scallops
8-10 raw shrimp, peeled and de-veined
1 1/2 cup diced tomatoes (or tomato sauce if you want the sauce thicker)
1/2 -3/4 cup dry white wine (the 3/4 is if you want a runnier sauce)
1 tsp dried oregano (you could use fresh)
1/4 tsp dried chili flakes
coarse black pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

Method

1. If you're using rice pasta, immerse into boiling water, let boil 2 minutes and then cover for 15 minutes until done.
2. In a large skillet, add the 1/2 cup olive oil (if you use too much less the garlic will burn) and add the garlic until golden brown (but not burned)
3. Add the clam for about 1 minute.
4. Add tomatoes, wine, oregano, pepper flakes and pepper. Stir occasionally and reduce til it becomes a little thicker. If you're using tomato sauce instead of diced tomatoes, your sauce will be thicker and ok to add some more liquid if too thick. When the clams begin to open...
5. Add the shrimp and scallops and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Don't let the shrimp or the scallops overcook.
6. Drain pasta and add it to your seafood/sauce combination. Top with parsley and voila...heaven.

This is really a great company dish and a total no brainer to prepare.

** Although I love clams, it doesn't seem to matter how much I clean them, I can't seem to escape some of the grit.

Note to Psychgrad: Although you didn't solicit all the compliments, I figure there should be some compensation somehow (other than the fact that you're my daughter) :)

Spaghetti with Cajun Chicken

One more day to get your pasta recipes in for this week's Presto Pasta Nights roundup! Check out this post for more details.


I picked up some colourful pasta this weekend at La Bottega, with Presto Pasta Nights in mind.


Not as cool as Zebra Pasta, but a step above the usual whole wheat stuff.


Spaghetti with Cajun Chicken
Free Online Recipes


Ingredients:
3/4lb angel hair pasta (cooked) (I used spaghetti)
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (cut into strips) (I used 2 breast halves)
2 tablespoons fresh garlic (chopped)
2 tablespoons dried basil
2 tablespoons Cajun-style blackened seasoning (I used this cajun spice)
salt and pepper (to taste)
10 roma tomatoes (diced) (I used a large can of diced tomatoes)
2/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

Step 1: Heat olive oil in a large skillet, to medium-high heat. Add chicken pieces and fry until brown on the outside. Stir in basil, garlic, blackened seasoning, salt and pepper. Mix in tomatoes. Cook until tomatoes are semi soft and the chicken is fully cooked.
Step 2: Toss with noodles and top with crumbled feta cheese.
(Makes 5 Servings)


Overall, a good dish. Makes for a quick and simple meal.

Random Acts of Kindness

Ok Psychgrad... Step away from MLS (the main real estate site in Canada). My agent's husband calls it "porn for women". Luckily, Giz is a former real estate agent, so she willingly (or with very little complaint) humours my addiction.

Suffice to say, we haven't found a home. There isn't much on the market that looks interesting. It's really tough to find the right balance of new home, with a decent size yard (i.e., larger that the little square you get in most townhomes), that is in move-in condition and relatively central. Added to that, we'd like a place that is energy efficient and in walking distance to nearby stores.

Enough about the crappy market (for buyers).

Let me tell you about something more positive.

RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS!
Many of you likely know Julia from Grow. Cook. Eat.. She is a blogger from Cambridge, MA who is a professionally trained chef, leads interactive cooking parties, is a consultant, an entrepreneur and an all-around nice person.

A while back, Julia and I co-posted about our cinnamon bun recipes. You can view mine here and Julia's are here. We got to talking about vanilla beans and next thing I know, she sent me my very own Tahitian vanilla beans.

Just when I thought I had exhausted my random acts of kindness allotment from one person, I found out that I was going to receive another random act of kindness after commenting on one of her posts.

About a week later, I received something in the mail....


Julia had recalled me mentioning wanting to steal this book from Giz (a book I had sent her for Mother's Day...yes, I'm a terrible daughter for wanting to steal my mom's Mother's Day present) and she sent it to me! A big thank you to Julia!

The idea of these random acts is to pass on the kindness. So here's how it works:

1. Leave a comment on this post no later than 8 pm EST Monday, August 17th. I’ll pick 3 comments randomly, on whose authors I’ll bestow an act of kindness. I’ll announce the winners shortly after.

2. My kindness can be anything of my choosing. It might be handmade and it might be purchased, but it will be selected just for you. I make no guarantees that you’ll love it (or not find it odd or quirky), but I guarantee that it will be heartfelt on my part.

3. Having some experience with shipping blogging prizes overseas, I'm going to have to limit my kindness to bloggers from North America.

All you have to do, dear readers, is have a blog and be willing to pass on the kindness by creating a similar post. If you don’t blog, play the game the old-fashioned way: find a neighbour, stranger or friend in need and fill it.