Spaghetti Marinara is my favourite spaghetti dish mainly because its spicy and its a mix of seafood!! YUMM!! I usually eat this at a Fasta Pasta restaurant but since Woolies had a special on their seafood marinara I thought why not make this instead of a traditional beef spaghetti?
Seafood Marina from Woolworths
This is a very simple and yet delicious dish to make.
All you need is:
1 tbs of oil.
2 onions sliced finely
clove of garlic sliced finely
1 packet of fettucini
1 cup of red wine (I used shiraz)
spaghetti sauce of your choice (I used a standard size jar of leggos sauce with chill)
1 can of diced tomatoes (I used ones with basil and garlic in it)
chopped chilli (use as much as you want)
Italian herbs (i just used basil)
700 grams of seafood marinara (you can get this from Woolworths, in frozen aisles of supermarkets or at seafood markets)
Parmesan cheese
Method:
In a medium sized pan, heat the oil and add the onion and garlic. Cook til tender/softened.
Next add in the can of tomato, red wine and herbs and simmer. Stir. Cook for about 15 minutes til reduced or til it gets a bit saucier.
Sauce
Next cook the fettucini pasta as instructed on the packet. Drain. And put equal small portions on plates.
Then back to the sauce base, add the seafood marinara mix and cover on medium heat. Cook for 4 minutes. Stir. Please do not over cook because the seafood will go all tough and rubbery.
Then lastly, ladle the seafood marinara sauce over the plates and serve with Parmesan cheese on top!
My all time favourite Vietnamese dish would have to be Soft Rice Paper Rolls!! Why? This is because it can be used to wrap up a wide range of fillings of your choice from meat, fish, chicken, noodles or veges. It's a fun way to entertain and get family and friends together. Each person can assemble their own unique spring roll according to their taste and preferences.
The main essential fillings for the rice paper rolls are vermicelli noodles and herbs and you can add whatever meat you desire. I like either beef or pork or even those crunchy deep fried spring rolls.
Today I am going to show you have to make Prawn and Pork Rice Paper Rolls and Dipping Sauce to go with it. You can also find these at Asian Grocers already made for you for about $4 a container with their special dipping sauce! YUmmmm...
Soft Rice Paper Roll (with Prawn and Pork)
To make about 20 rolls you will need:
1/2 kg of pork rashers or you can use pork neck. (i used half of the pack in the photo below)
approx 20 prawns cooked and peeled and cut half side ways
fresh herbs / lettuce
vermicelli noodles
20 rice paper sheets
warm water for dipping the sheets
dipping sauce!
Some of the ingredients!
Instructions:
- Place rashes in a pot of boiling water on medium heat. Cook through well. Then take out of the water and set it aside to cool. Cut up in 1 cm pieces.
- I bought my prawns already cooked. If you bought it fresh then boil it until it changes colour and let it cool. Then peel prawns. And then slice it half side ways (like the pic below).
- In another pot, cook the noodles according to instructions. Drain well and set aside.
- Lay all the ingredients out as shown below. You can have it in any order you like but the prawns must come first just for presentation wise!
In order....doesn't have to be but the rice paper and then the prawn must be first
- Fill a large bowl with warm water. Now place a sheet of rice paper and dip it into the water and take it out. Immediately lay this on a big plate. (Don't go soaking your sheet......yuckkk it will go all soggy gross! lol and then you can't even roll it properly!)
- Then place the prawns (cut side up), then noodles, herbs and pork on the botton edge of the rice paper roll near towards your body. Leave enough paper to roll the sheet over to cover the ingredients.
- Fold over the rice sheet paper until all the ingredients are covered.
- Roll until the prawn side is facing downwards onto the plate. Then fold each side to seal the two ends of the paper.
- Repeat the process until all ingredients are used up
- Place on a nice serving dish and serve with dipping sauce.
This is a slide show on How to make rice paper roll. I thought it would be easier than explaining it :)
Now make the sauce!
Vietnamese Dipping Sauce Please adjust the ingredients to your taste
1/2 cup fish sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 squeezed lime or lemon
2 garlic cloves minced
2 chilli's minced
some water
Directions:
- Get a jar that is sealable (empty jam jar) and add water and sugar. Mix to dissolve the sugar. Then add the fish sauce and lime or lemon juice.
- Then add in the garlic and chillis. Taste. Add more fish sauce or water according to your preference.
- Serve immediately. It is recommended that you store in the fridge. Lasts for a couple of months.
Since I didn't go grocery shopping I had limited ingredients to really whip up anything!!! I remembered I had prawns in the freezer and spaghetti stored in the pantry so I whipped up this delicious spicy prawn spaghetti!! It only takes about half an hour to whip up ...its quick, easy and very tasty!
This will serve about 4 people
Spicy Prawn Spaghetti
You will need:
2 tbs olive oil
1 pack of thick spaghetti
20 prawns (divide 5 for each person)
1 onion diced
2 cloves of garlic
1 - 2 tbs of sambal oelek relish
1 - 2 tbs of tomato paste
pepper
herbs (mint, parsley, basil etc)
Instructions:
Firstly in a pot, cook pasta according to directions or until al dente and drain
In a pan, add olive oil, garlic and onion and saute. Add prawns. Cook the prawns until it changes colour. This will take about 1 minute each side. Remove the prawns. You do not want to over cook them.
In the same pan, add the spaghetti, sambal oelek relish, tomato paste and pepper. Mix through until the sauces coat the spaghetti. And add the prawns to heat through again.
Divide spaghetti and 5 prawns on each plate. Garnish with herbs and serve immediately
