Seafood Marinara with Capellini

Last night I had the distinct pleasure of making dinner for some of my favorite people: David, Urooj, and Nea. I quite literally started this recipe journey by going into the produce market up the street from my house and throwing vegetables into my cart that I enjoy. I had scanned some recipes online earlier in the day, and I knew that I was going to make a red sauce, but other than that it was anyone's guess as to what I was going to make.

The result was an amazing marinara that is delicious over jasmine rice or capellini. I served it with rice last night, but David mixed the sauce with leftover capellini that was in the fridge, and it was even better that way. This dish has an Italian base with some South Asian spicing and a whole lot of fun dashed into it.

Here, then, is my Seafood Marinara recipe...spaghetti ain't never been so good.

Seafood Marinara with Capellini

2 fillets tilapia cubed
1 lb shrimp deveined and de-shelled
2 red potatoes cubed
1 fennel cubed
1 large carrot sliced
2 jalapenos diced
4 cloves garlic diced
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 cup cilantro diced
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp olive oil
2 bunches green onions diced
1 large can of mashed or pureed tomatoes
1 lb capellini pasta aka angel hair pasta
salt to taste

First in a large pot heat the olive oil. Add to the olive oil the onions, garlic, cilantro, and jalapeno. Let them cook over a medium heat until the onion is soft. Then add the cumin, turmeric, cayenne, oregano, and basil. Stir and let cook for another minute or two.

Then add the potatoes, fennel, and carrot. Stir and make sure that the vegetables are coated with the herb mixture. Then add just enough water to the pot to cover the vegetables. You want your end sauce to be thick, so do not put to much water into it. Let the vegetables simmer in the pot until the water is about half gone. Then add the fish, shrimp, bay leaves and tomato sauce to the pot.

Cover the pot and let the sauce simmer over a medium heat for 45 minutes (as with almost any sauce, the longer you let the sauce slowly simmer, the better it is going to taste). Stir occasionally to make sure that nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pan and all of the flavors have a chance to mix together.

Prepare your pasta and serve with a heaping helping of the seafood marinara. This dish will easily stuff 4-6 people and will leave leftovers. The entire she-bang will run you about $15-$20 depending on the price of the shrimp and fish in your area.