Spaghetti marinara

João loves seafood but I’d never made anything aside from pasta with shrimp…
I felt a little reticent when he asked me for spaghetti marinara – I wondered if I could pull that off…
Luckily, I was able to find the seafood medley mentioned on the recipe, so it was a nice first time. Everything was clean, chopped and frozen – no traumatic contact with slimy stuff. :D

I made ¼ recipe and added king shrimp, seasoned with salt, pepper and lime juice and grilled with olive oil.

There was a thunder storm going on during our lunch, so I didn't have much light to photograph our food. :(

Spaghetti marinara
from Quick Food

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 cans tomatoes, diced (395g each)
65g (¼ cup) tomato paste – I omitted
450g spaghetti
450g seafood medley – see note
8 mussels, beards removed, scrubbed – I omitted because there were mussels in the seafood medley I used
2 tablespoons shredded fresh basil
salt
cracked black pepper

Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat, add the onion, and cook for 5 minutes or until soft and golden. Add the garlic and stir for 1 minute of until aromatic. Add the tomatoes and tomato paste and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until the sauce becomes rich and pulpy. Stir the sauce occasionally during cooking.
Season with salt and pepper. Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti in a large saucepan of rapidly boiling water until al dente. Drain well, return to the saucepan and keep warm.
Add the seafood mix and the mussels to the tomato sauce, and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the seafood is cooked and the mussels are open – I had to trust the cooking time specified on the recipe because I couldn’t taste the food.
Discard any mussels that don’t open.
Stir in the basil. Toss the sauce through the warm pasta and serve.

Serves 4-6

Note: Seafood medley – mixed seafood – is available in many supermarkets. Alternatively, make your own by buying different types of seafood, such as octopus, fish fillets, and squid, and chopping each into bite-sized pieces.