* on your other leg? I submit that there is not, especially since I don’t watch Heros.** I’m doing it though, because (1) the leg thing actually feels really good once you get over the plastic wrap-weirdness and (2) the foodblogosphere must know about this quick, easy and cheap pasta and fish with spicy, garlicky, fennel-y tomato sauce. is only $11 at Amazon right now. You need to hustle over there right now, and spend your $11 on the book instead of a movie ticket.**I inadvertently typed “Eros” the first time, which is the version of “Heros” that comes on on Cinemax late at night.
Just so you know, the leg thing isn’t some weird calf-plastic wrap fetish I have. If I’m going to get kinky, I’ll wrap my forearms in parchment paper held on with rubber bands.* I’m doing it because my therapist, who I see for totally non-leg-related reasons, suggested that it might help out a spasm in my calf muscle that’s been plaguing me for weeks and has really put a dent in my normal calf-related activities, like walking or going down stairs without falling. (There’s no blood clot, we checked. I mean, a radiologist checked, I didn’t do it myself or anything, and even Brian isn’t that handy). Damned if this camphor-plastic wrap thing isn’t working, though, because each day is successively better and today was almost pain-free.
Anyway, that’s not why you came here, although some of you might have if you do, in fact, have a calf-plastic wrap fetish and made your way here via google. For you, I’m sorry: that’s the end. For the rest of you, there is this delicious pasta. I figure since April’s Recession Special: Hobo Mondays theme is “no pasta”, I’ve gotta stuff all the cheap pasta meals into March.
*It just feels so…non-stick. Hot.
I knew I wanted something tomato-based, with good heat, a little sweetness, and maybe some of the flavor of a traditional cioppino, a traditional Italian, bouillabaisse-esque seafood stew that has now come to be associated with San Francisco after it came out of the closet during the Harvey Milk years. The traditional version doesn’t lend itself well to a $2.50 per person meal, what with the crab and the halibut that are often included, nor does it have pasta. So I guess what I really made is just a spicy pasta and fish dish, thank you very much Trader Joe’s and your $5 bags of mixed shrimp, scallops and calamari, but I thought a lot about cioppino while I was cooking. I don’t know if that counts for anything.*
The sauce started, as always with onions and olive oil with a little carrot thrown in for sweetness and then enough garlic to kill any vampires within a 75-mile radius. Maybe 80; the garlic-to-everything else ratio was REALLY high. Or low. I’m not good with numbers. Just know this: There was a lot of garlic. My name is Michelle, I am Italian, and I have a garlic problem. I added it once the onion and carrot had already started to sweeten, since I really wanted it to retain some of its vampire-repellant powers.
*I do know, I’m just being nice to myself: It doesn’t count.
I tossed in some red pepper flakes to start layering heat into the dish – I wanted to go for spicy but complex not just SPICY OH MY GOD WHERE IS THE MILK – and a little thyme, because I had it and like it in tomato sauce. I also added a dash of hot chili oil. I’d never used it and was a little scared. I was right to be scared, because if the finished dish had been any spicier (it came out just right and I am totally making it the next time I have a cold, although coating your left leg in camphor and menthol also does a lot to open up the sinuses) it would have been reaching problematic territory.
I poured in the little bit of white wine left over from last week’s most outstanding Smackdown which cooked down almost immediately, then added half a bottle of pure tomato pureé and a couple pinches of fennel seed. Which is a flavor that is often associated with cioppino. See! I was doing something correctly in spite of myself! I love it when that happens.
Note to readers: If you ever find yourself in this position – I mean the whole leg-plastic-heating pad-balanced-laptop position, not the faux-cioppino making position – pick a less slippery book than Watchmen. This post has become physically demanding.
I let the sauce simmer for just a few minutes, since I wanted this whole thing to be fast, and then chucked in part of a bag of Trader Joe’s frozen seafood mix. It’s a one-pound bargain bag of shrimp, bay scallops and calamari rings that I think costs around 5 bucks. We keep a couple of them in the freezer; they’re great to chuck into last minute soups and stews like this one here. Is it the world’s highest-quality seafood? No. Nor, however, is it the worst, and it’s damn handy.
If you’re not lucky enough to have a Trader Joe’s nearby I’m sorry, not just because you can’t get the bargain seafood bags but also because you can’t get those fucking addictive alphabet-shaped cinnamon cookies. Those things are like cookie crack. (I mean, crack in cookie form, not crack for cookies.) Pick up calamari and shrimp when they’re on sale, freeze ’em, and then get a friend who does live near a Trader Joe’s to send you some of those cookies.
The scallops, calamari and shrimp are all quick cooking, so even frozen solid they cook through in the time it takes to boil up some pasta. Assuming the water is already close to boiling, and you don’t have some kind of freakishly thick pasta that takes 25 minutes to cook. I mean, you’ve gotta plan a little here.*
*But not much, as you’ll soon see.
This would be better over linguini, yes. But the only linguini we had in the house was whole wheat, and Brian and I just looked at the box and simultaneous said: “No.” Also, fancy-pants Whole Foods whole wheat linguini? Pricey. Shop-Rite squiggly noodles whose name escapes me at the minute? Cheap.
I’d like to say I chose them because I thought the ridges would help carry the sauce. That would make me sound like a smart person who knows what she’s doing more than 5 minutes in advance of the events themselves, and that’s not the case. I mean, really, in my current state, I could have had six separate and unique nervous breakdowns, decided to bake a wedding cake for some imaginary friends and/or decide to quit my day job to pursue a dream of becoming an opera singer that I only just developed prior to making the decision. Possibly all of these things happened.*
The one thing I did remember to do: save some of the starchy pasta cooking water in case it was needed to help the final sauce pull together. I was inordinately proud of remembering to do this.
*Insanity update, for those following along: Meds shift again today, in their slow, tectonic movement toward some kind of finality. I will not be upset if you start a betting pool on when I’ll hit (1) the nadir and (2) the apex. In fact, I’ll buy a couple boxes. Since it’s so unpredictable anyway, it’s not like I have some kind of insider information.
Aside: Holy Jesus, the heat of the laptop is being transmitted all the way through the book and into my leg. Is that thermodynamically possible? If the computer gets that hot, how is it not currently engulfed in flames (or for that matter, the book, which unless I am mistaken is made of paper, a material well known for it’s ability to burn with ease)? How am I still typing?
This probably took you longer to read than it took me to make this. I apologize for the woodiness of the thyme stems used for garnish here, I know they don’t lend nearly the panache of chives. (Although, to be fair, few things do other than Cary Grant and a well-tailored Brooks Brothers suit with a just-saucy-enough pocket square.)
It was everything I wanted it to be. There was definitely heat – the spiciness hit you coming, going, and sideways, and there may have been a little drinking-milk-straight-from-the-carton while we did the dishes – but it was a good spicy. Even though the sauce was quick cooking, allowing the onion and carrot to sweeten, keeping some of the garlic’s pungency, adding the herbal note of thyme and the licoricey fennel made it much more complex than you’d expect of a 20-minute sauce. The spice and fennel paired well with the seafood (especially the calamari; I always wish they’d put more of them in the mixed bags), and pasta is just good. All in all, an easy, versatile dish that I made entirely out of things I already had in the house. The flavors are easily altered, and adding some fish stock could even turn this into a soup or stew. It’s almost embarrassingly Rachael Ray-ish, but since it tasted good, why should I care?
Unfortunately, I kept track of no cooking times and measured nothing, so I’m listing the approximate ingredients below and you’ll have to piece things together from the description. I have faith in you.
Spicy Cioppino-y Pasta with Mixed Seafood,
with worst-ever written recipe and no prices because these are all pantry staples for me so I didn’t actually go out and spend any money and they’re all cheap anyway.
Try and follow these awful instructions, or trust your instincts and go for it.
Serves 2
4 oz. pasta of your choice. Cook it. Water. Salt. You know how this works. Then take:
1-2 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium carrot, finely diced
1 small onion, finely diced
Saute the above together until translucent and starting to turn a little golden. Add the following
5-7 cloves garlic (about 4 tablespoons), minced
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. hot chili oil
pinch cayenne, to taste
cracked black pepper, to taste
Saute for a few more minutes. Then add the:
3-4 ounces white wine
Followed by the:
14 or so ounces tomato puree
1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
1/2 tsp. fennel seeds
Let simmer for 5 minutes or so, then cook the following in the sauce:
8 oz. mixed seafood
Toss the sauce and seafood with the al dente pasta.
One Year Ago: Weekend Brunch: Now 65% More Beige!
Thursday Night Smackdown 
arrr i am so jealous of your $5 seafood bag!
My name is Heather, and although I’m mostly Irish, I, too, have a garlic problem. And up to now, I have also been a closet Trader Joe’s Seafood mix user. Always felt a bit weird, though, using, and enjoying, frozen seafood to that extent. I think the convenience of it all makes it taste that much better. Glad I’m not alone with my garlic addiction/frozen seafood usage.
I would kill for a Trader Joe’s in Dallas. You are very lucky.
I’m so glad I’m not alone in my garlic fetish. Or my incessant new recipes invented at the last minute out of pantry staples. Or my continued lack of foresight to keep track of what I made (at least you got pictures)! Most importantly, I feel blessed to know that I’m not the only one that constantly forgets to reserve the pasta water for use in the sauce, always yelling “DAMMIT” as the precious stuff circles the drain. I finally remembered the other night and was so proud of myself, until I realized as I started eating that I forgot to use it!
I’m pretty sure I actually burned myself with my laptop recently (there’s kind of a discolored area on my thigh), so I finally bought a thing to put it on. Of course, I only did that after the damn thing kept shutting itself off, and googling let me know it was a feature, not a bug — an anti-overheating feature. So.
I don’t even like the idea of seafood with red sauce, but now I would like to eat that pasta.
Yum. Will have to try that one. Confession du jour — I do NOT like calamari (much like Dr. Seuss does not like Green Eggs and Ham, Sam I Am). But I do buy a few one-pound bags of frozen popcorn shrimp when Kroger has it on sale, for such very recipes as this. (Also REAL good in fried rice.)
Yeah, I’d kill for a Trader Joe’s. We at least have a Fresh Market in Memphis.
you mean SKINemax YO…lol
i love the seafood bag for my Paella–saves the DAY…gotta watch out tho….they can get sketchy. i often soak in milk to leech out some of the fishyness, and tenderize the frozen calamari bits
We have a brand-spanking new Trader Joe’s here, but I’ve been resisting the tempation to go because a: it’s not conveniently located to my home, or work, or anyplace I go, for that matter, and I’m all about convenience, and b: the neighborhood where it is located is a nightmare to drive through, which is also not convenient. But for $5 seafood bags and cookie crack? I can suffer a little inconvenience.
never made Cioppino, that doesnt look to hard at all.
and I will be getting my watchmen and treating it with respect. Under a laptop??? Dr Manhattan is crying.. you know, if he had emotions and all and.. well anyway. Good dish.
That pasta is called cavatappi.
And OMG, there is no TJ in Dallas? Memphis? Then there is certainly no hope for me here in the East Central (Illinois, that is), yo. That is why I have to make periodic trips up to Chicagoland. Sometimes I think I miss TJ more than my family and friends.
Alas we have no TJ’s here in Portland Maine but we do have plenty of seafood, so I’m sure I can find something that works. Look delicious, love anything with tomato and garlic and garlic and hot pepper.
jesi, if i had a nickel for every time i’ve heard that.
chedds, accept it. love it. make dinner in 15 minutes, and make no excuses.
gammyp, i have more than one. i would lend you one, if i could.
anna, the pasta water actually did make a different here, so hopefully it will help it stick in my brain for next time.
but probably not.
jesse, seafood + red sauce + heat = fra diavolo. or as i call it “so good.”
kay, no calamari? not even fried, with spicy marinara? not even stuffed with crabmeat? and did i mentioned fried? i’m so sorry.
vera, i have never experienced any sketch with the TJ’s bag o’ shellfish. i’m also not about to pick out the calamari and soak them in milk. but more power to you!
tanis, it’s totally worth it, but set yourself a budget limit before you set foot in there, because all the random shit you pick up will add up with a quickness.
deacon, let there be no pretensions – this is not cioppino. just pasta with some cioppino-like flavors involved. also, i think my copy of watchmen knows how much i love it, and it was probably glad to serve as my lap protector.
peggasus, thank you! it’s been on the tip of my brain all day. the pasta was in a plastic storage container, so i didn’t have the box for assistance.
it can be dangerous to live too near to a TJs. we go every couple of months, just to “pick up a few things.” yeah, right. we drop a fat wad of cash every time.
karen, and fennel! don’t forget the fennel! so good, and i generally don’t really like it.
My room-mate introduced me to a far less sophisticated version of this. You start with the onions and carrot, then, just when the onions are starting to get translucent, you throw in a can of tuna and saute until it’s starting to get browned. Then you throw in an assload of garlic, some black pepper, some dried red pepper (to taste), diced or pureed plum tomatoes (canned is fine, obv) and wine, if you’ve got any. Pour over al denta pasta, top with pepper flakes and grated fresh parm, and you’re good to go in 20 mins or so.
I’ve never tried it with fennel, but I definitely will now.
This looks absolutely fabulous. I’ve been thinking on something like this ever since I was in San Francisco a couple of months ago, but I’ve been entirely too lazy to actually do it. By the way, I am aware of your disdain for Anthony Bourdain, but in spite of that, since you did invoke the name of Rachel Ray, this came to mind. I was reading an article he wrote a year or so ago, bemoaning the downward trend as far as the actual use of chefs on the food network in favor of using untrained personalities. I’m not usually his greatest fan either, but he really hit home when he referred to Rachel Ray and Sandra Lee as Satan’s Spawn. Can’t argue with that, can ya?
Be careful with the computer! I had an August 2001-manufactured Gateway laptop that by Christmas 2004 was getting pretty hot and made these sad whirry noises. In May 2005 I went to bed around 2 AM, burnt out from writing half a research paper and vowing to wake up early to finish. I woke up around 6 to smell burning plastic…the fan in the motherboard had died, and so the computer had no defense against overheating. Half my keyboard had melted. It was terrifying. So if your computer is not only super hot but making sad, whirry, asthmatic noises, take it to the computer doctor before your keyboard melts!
Oh, and I love the site. I probably will not try this dish any time soon as I don’t eat seafood, but I do enjoy reading about your kitchen escapades!
i soak the whole bitch in milk. hell no i’m not picking out squid remnants…
i’m just torn over using the milk after….such a waste…but it should still be safe to cook with if its been in the fridge right?
This looks really good. Just found your site and love it. Will have to give this and some of your other recipes a try.
No Vera, do not use that milk! You use the milk to leech out impurities from the protein, where do you think all those impurities are? If you don’t believe me, just try the milk next time. Wait, don’t do that, you might die.
Thank you jeff! I never contemplated drinking it, but i wondered if i could use it for a sauce or soup or something….but i’ll just err on the side of caution and try to use milk that’s just about at it’s shelf limit. ; )
Oh hey, that’s the SCOOBI DOO pasta shape!
Spicy Cioppino-y Pasta with Mixed Seafood is a fabulous-sounding dish. It looks positively beautiful and impressive. I have printed the receipe and added it to my collection, the dept of flavors are just superb. I know my family will enjoy this one! Thanks for sharing.
We have 8 TJ’s to choose from in the DC metro area, and 2 within 5 miles of me. You should certainly have ONE in Dallas. This is shocking.
This recipe was great! 15 minutes to make it from start to finish, and it would have only been 10 if I hadn’t spilled the wine. I wasn’t tipsy, it’s just the measuring cups were all joined together and pulled themselves off the counter. Oops. That wasn’t too smart or cheap.
And the whole wheat Barilla rotini from Costco were great and cheap. 2 oz per serving, 200 calories. I think this meal is cheap, delicious and reasonably low cal. Even with a T. of cheese on top and it’s gotta be under 500 cals. Add a salad and you’ve got a great meal.