Sunday Dinner Series, 12-April

I love seafood, and will quite often opt for seafood pasta when at an Italian restaurant. So for this week I decided to try make a Linguine Con Frutti Di Mare at home, and was duly rewarded. All the components are easy to make, and come together at the end for some lip-smacking goodness. Yummy. When choosing a wine for the meal, memories of a spicy crab pasta at a small restaurant in Alghero, Sardinia served as inspiration.

Marina Sauce
2 cans peeled or crushed Italian plum tomatoes
6 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tsp crushed chilli flakes
1 tsp dried oregano
Salt
Olive oil (about ¼ cup)

Heat olive oil, then add garlic and cook till slightly browned. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to lively boil, add salt, them simmer for about 30 minutes.

Seafood – any kind you prefer. I opted for:
Scallops
Prawns (I left heads on for flavour and just sliced down the middle for ease in cooking)
Clams
Olive oil
2 cloves, crushed garlic

In large skillet, heat olive oil and cook garlic until lightly browned. Remove garlic. Cook scallops in olive oil about 3 minutes a side until nicely browned but still plump/juicy. Remove to plate. Season with salt. Cook prawns about 2 minutes a side until done. Remove to plate. Season with salt. Add marinara sauce and clams and cook until clams open, removing to plate as they open.

Linguine pasta – cook in boiling salted water for 11 minutes.

To finish, add pasta to skillet. Add generous dousing of olive oil and toss. Add in seafood. Plate and finish off with generous sprinkling of chopped fresh parsley.

Wine
For wine, I opted for a Sardinian red - Rocca Rubia 2004 Carignanon Del Sulcis Riserva - tasty with a slight kick to stand up to the richness of the garlicky spicy tomato marinara and seafood.

Some pics fro the meal:

New Addiction

One rainy bank holiday weekend about 3 weeks ago Ed and I joined a gym, and have been properly addicted since. I’m only able to go on the weekends (given I’m out of town all week), and have been going Friday evenings when I get home, plus Saturday and Sunday. Ed luckily can also go during the week. An acquaintance of Ed’s commented the other day that we’re still in the honeymoon stage of our gym relationship. I beg to differ and offer 4 key words in my defence – pool, jacuzzi, steam room and sauna.

When it comes right down to it, the 30 minutes of cardio, 15 minutes weight training (optional), 15minutes of ab exercises, and 10 minutes of stretching is just the buttering up for the pleasures to follow. After a workout, there’s no better way to cool down, and transition into relaxation, than a bunch of laps in the pool. There’s nothing like the sound of your rhythmical breathing and the quietness under water to clear the brain and prime the body for a relaxing soak in the Jacuzzi. The bubbles and warmth of the Jacuzzi loosen the now weary muscles. From the Jacuzzi we usually head to the steam room for further high speed muscle relaxation, and some sense of quietness in the deep dense steam. The climax however is to lay quietly in the sauna, chirping bird/forest sounds streaming quietly over speakers, lulling yourself into a half-dose. Ed’s latest “craze” is to jump under a freezing cold shower after the sauna. Something about being energizing. I’m not yet sold but do concede it certainly wakes you up from a sauna-induced sleepiness.

It’s not unusual for us to spend 3 hours a session at out friendly local gym. We are properly addicted.