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From the SecretAGentMan
AMAZINGLY EASY SEAFOOD SAUCE
Ingredients:
Olive Oil: 3 Tbs.
Garlic: 2 - 3 cloves, finely chopped.
Tomatoes: 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
Red Pepper: ½ tsp, crushed red pepper.
Salt: To taste
Clams: 1 6 oz. can of clams, with their juice.
Tuna: 1 6 oz. can of tuna packed in water, with its water.
Olives: 1 8 - 12 ounce can black olives, drained and chopped.
Anchovies: 2 - 3 fillets.
Parsley: 1 Tbs.
Basil: 1 Tbs.
Capers: 2 Tbs.
Butter: 2 Tbs.
Cheese: Pecorino
Pasta: Any, but works very well with linguine.
Directions:
(1) Place oil and garlic in saucepan over medium-high heat. Saute until garlic begins to turn color. Remove from heat, and reduce heat to low.
(2) When pan, oil and garlic are WARM (not hot) add anchovies and stir until dissolved. You don’t want to fry the anchovies, just make them comfortable so they will dissolve into tiny brown bits.
(3) Add the water from the clams and tuna, and the crushed tomatoes. Add the basil, parsley, red pepper. Raise heat to low (2 or so) and simmer, stirring it occasionally when the sauce bubbles. Do this for 15 - 20 minutes.
(4) Midway through, start boiling water for pasta.
(5) Add the tuna meat, clam meat, olives, capers and butter. Remove saucepan from heat right now, or the tuna will develop a nasty metallic taste. Stir until all ingredients are incorporated. Taste for salt and, if needed, add some (remember the pecorino and capers are salty).
(6) When pasta is done, toss with sauce and cheese. Serve.
Note: Believe it or not, the non-traditional use of cheese and fish works well with this dish. You can add other seafood to this sauce. Try some frozen shrimp, crab meat, etc. If the fish is canned in water, add the juice in step (3). If the fish is canned in oil, it’s best not to add the oil -- it’s usually canola oil which is very heavy and will not incorporate well with the sauce. If the fish is canned in olive oil, you could add a little, but by no means all, the oil in step (2). As to the timing of the meat, you’ll need to add it so that it will be cooked by the end of step (5). So for frozen pre-cooked shrimp, I would add them a couple of minutes before the end of step (5), so that they will be thawed when the sauce is removed from the heat. For raw shrimp, I would saute them during step (1), remove, and add back at the end of step (5). I have not tried this recipe with frozen fish like roughy, cod, etc., so let your judgment be your guide.
This isn't much, but it's a quick way to dress up a steak. Cook some pasta. It's best to use small shapes like penne or conchiglie ('sea shells') or farfalle ('bow-tie'). While it's cooking, heat some oil and butter (mostly butter) in a pan and saute some minced garlic. When the pasta's done, toss it with the butter, some parsley, and a couple of shakes of Worcestershire sauce. You can add finely-diced red or green peppers, either sauteed in the butter sauce or unkooked, if you like. Use it as a side dish.
