As a teen, I spent several years eating institution food at an all-girl's Catholic boarding school. Also as a teen, I spent several years eating my Dad's home cooking. The two cuisines were about as far removed from one another as humanly possible - I'm sure the rest of the young "ladies" boarding with me would have flipped out had they been presented with a chick pea curry or kangaroo meat stir fry; and conversely, my Dad would have committed seppuku if I'd whipped up a vegetarian plate consisting of a bulk-purchased pattie, some boiled peas and corn and Deb mash potato and called it a meal.
One thing that was special in both kitchens, however, was Friday night dinner.
At my boarding school, Friday night was fish and chips night. Friday was the only night we were fed chips, and chips were one of the only foodstuffs the kitchen staff could cook well, so it was as much of a win win situation as one could hope for under the circumstances. The inedible fried-from-frozen fish, of course, was a stickler from ye olde days of the church - but we forgave them for this antiquated tradition like good Catholic girls do... as long as the chips kept coming.
At my parent's place to this day, Friday is spaghetti night (spaghetti being used as a header for an anglocised bolognese as well as the pasta itself). "Spaghetti night" basically entails my father "knocking off work" early, coming home, opening a bottle of homebrew and relaxing for an hour or so before whipping up the sauce using cupboard and freezer ingredients (it's one of the ultimate isolated area meals, not requiring anything flash that wouldn't be found at the local supermarket). He then lets it bubble away for another couple of beers before serving with cooked San Remo (always!) packet spaghetti, a garden salad and a good bottle of red.
So being a Friday, how's about a recipe for nostalgia's sake, combining the basics of the two? I originally planned to fry up a batch of hot chips and consume them with a two litre cask of shiraz, but then another idea came to me - a recipe which will be sure to impress no matter how much of a lady you are.
Olive oil (about two tablespoons)
One brown onion, chopped finely
Two cloves of garlic, chopped finely
One 400g tin of whole Italian tomatoes (chop them up a bit in the tin by sticking your knife in and smashing it around some)
Three small fresh tomatoes, diced
One tablespoon of tomato paste
1/2 cup of dry white wine
Half a handful of fresh majoram and oregano leaves, roughly chopped
1/2 packet of dried long pasta (today I'm using Barilla fettucine but you could make this with whichever brand and variety you prefer)
6 scallops (roe on or off, whatever you prefer)
6 green prawns (shelled and de-veined but with tails left intact)
6 frozen mussels (defrost and remove beard and grit beforehand)
2 small (10cm) squid tubes, or 1/2 a larger tube (cut in half, score and cut each half into quarters)
1 medium salmon fillet, skin off (cut into bite sized chunks)
Half a handful of basil leaves, torn
Half a handful of parsley, chopped
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste
Method
1. Heat a large frypan / wok to medium, then put a couple of glugs of olive oil into the pan and allow to heat for thirty seconds.
Add the chopped onion and cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes until it becomes transluscent, then add the chopped garlic and stir for another minute or two.
Add the wine and let it evaporate for a minute, then chuck in the chopped and tinned tomatoes and stir to combine.
Throw in a the tomato paste, sugar and the oregano and majoram, stir, and reduce the heat to low (it should be just bubbling occasionally).
Let it cook for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring occasionally.
2. Meanwhile, after about 40 minutes, fill a large pot with water and bring to the boil.
3. Got your tomato sauce nicely simmered? Got your pasta water boiling? Right, now we are going to do a bit o' coordinated cookery. Ready?
Add a bit of sea salt to the water then chuck in the pasta and cook until it is squishy enough to make you happy (call me a heathen - I hate pasta cooked al dente. Take that, purists!).
While the pasta is cooking, add the mussels to the pasta sauce and cook for a minute or two. Then add the salmon and squid and cook for another two minutes, then stir in the prawns and finally the scallops. Cook until the prawns turn pink (don't overdo this stage or you'll end up with rubberarma rather than marinara sauce...).
Stir in sea salt and pepper to taste, and remove from the heat.
4. Your pasta should be ready about the same time as you finish up with the seafood.
Drain it, reserving about 1/3 of the cooking water, then add the cooked pasta and the water to the marinara sauce.
Swish it around a bit to coat.
Serve topped with the basil and parsley, and accompanied by cabernet sauvignon and a Catholic schoolgirl wink and nod.
Voila! A Friday night dinner even Jesus would rise for. Serves two drunks or three as part of a civilised meal with salad and garlic ciabatta.
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