Seafood Pasta-- It's All In the Sauce, Yo.

I eat pasta with chopsticks.... because all my forks are in the sink.

a menagerie of seafood. 

You can probably tell by the stuff I mention I've been cooking that I am really craving some summer fare. I usually make my own tomato sauce from locally-grown ingredients, but it's too cold for tomatoes to grow right now, and I JUST HAD TO HAVE some seafood pasta.

Being in the Midwest (at least where I live), it's hard to get fresh, good quality seafood any time of the year. But I grew up in the Philippines where fish was a staple, and my palate just craves it all the time. So, I was lucky enough to find a bag of frozen seafood mix from my local Asian grocery store. This particular package had mussels, shrimp, scallops, squid, and baby octopi.

Xen suggested that I post the recipe I used for making this delicious dish. And trust me, it was pretty delicious. :) Though the seafood somewhat satisfied my craving, the secret is really in the sauce. When you have this down, you can add whatever kind of protein to it (or veggie), if you aren't a fan of seafood.

Laura's Quick Seafood Pasta (serves 6-8)

Ingredients:

1- 12  to 16 oz package of seafood mix or your choice of protein, cooked.
1 lb wheat spaghetti/ angel hair noodles, cooked

Sauce: (adapted from this recipe, kinda)
1/4 c olive oil
1/2 of a medium onion, diced
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1- 28oz can San Marzano plum tomatoes (get this type of tomato. They are the gods of tomatoes)
1 lb Roma tomatoes, diced
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp rosemary
salt, pepper, red chili flakes to taste

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot in medium heat.
2. Add onion and garlic. Saute for about 1 minute.
3. Add in can of tomatoes (with all the stewed juiciness) and the Roma tomatoes, cook for about 5 minutes on medium, and then reduce heat to med-low. Cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes.
4. Add in spices. Cook until the sauce is thickened and the tomatoes and onions look tender.
5. Mash with a potato masher.
6. Add protein and let simmer for another 10 minutes.
7. Add pasta.
8. Garnish with fresh basil (or dried, if you haven't any, like me)

et, voila. Happiness.