This is a really basic hot meal that’s easy to make and tastes delicious, and serves two with generous portions. I sometimes add extra garlic to the dish depending on mood.
I learnt the Italian term al dente when in high school studying food technology, one of the ways the teacher taught us to test if the pasta was ready was to grab a strand of pasta chuck it onto the microwave! Luckily I wasn�t one to pay too much attention to teachers.
I went with a more commonsense approach and check the status of the pasta by tasting and making sure there are no white marks in the centre. So my rule of thumb, taste the pasta, it should be slightly chewy and firm and never overcook it, once this is done, drain immediately, leaving a bit of the pasta water so it doesn�t dry out and stick together.
Chinese noodles are cooked the same way to al dente, after the noodles are cooked, refreshing by draining the noodles then placing in cold water to stop the cooking process, then drained again and set aside to be used in stir fries or to be added to soup.
I used a seafood mix in this recipe which you can buy from your local fish monger, or you can make you own, my usual seafood mix contains shelled and deveined prawns, calamari rings, baby octopus, shelled mussels, salmon pieces, fish pieces.
Ingredients
150 g seafood mix
250 g fresh fettuccine
5 cloves garlic (crushed)
5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup fresh parsley (chopped)
Salt & Pepper
Extra Olive Oil
Method
In a large pot fill 3/4 full with water and bring to boil. Place fettuccine in and cook till al dente. Drain and set aside.
Place crushed garlic and olive oil in a small bowl and combine.
Heat non stick pans on high, once hot use a few teaspoons of the garlic oil and cook seafood mix till nearly done, then remove and set aside.
In the same pan add the remainder of garlic oil then pour in the drained fettuccine, tossing through the seafood mix, adding more olive oil if needed.
Once everything is heated stir through freshly chopped parsley, adding salt and pepper to taste.
