An Artist Learns the Art of Cooking

Passport & Plate - Spicy Veggies and Fish over Pasta

USA | Thursday, March 13, 2014 | 3 photos

Ingredients
These ingredients are what I prefer, but one can change the meat, vegetables, and spices as one wishes. Be adventurous and have fun.

Ingredients:
- 2lbs Whitefish and / or shellfish
- 1 zucchini chopped ½” to 1” chunks
- 2 sweet peppers (green and yellow) chopped to ½” and sliced to 1”
- 3-4 spicy peppers (red or orange) diced to ¼” (keep the seeds in if you want it spicier)
- ½ stalk of broccoli – cut to ½” to 1” pieces
- 6 spears of asparagus cut to ¾” pieces
- 10-15 green olives sliced
- 4 diced tomatoes (cut small)
- 2 tomatoes cut to ½” to 1” chunks
- 3 diced garlic cloves
- 2 onions both diced and cut to ½” to 1” chunks
- Lots of oregano, basil, olive oil, and a pinch of salt. Pinch of cayenne pepper
- Pasta (or rice)
Serves: Six
Total Time: 25 min

 

How to prepare this recipe
It’s important to cut the veggies into different shapes and sizes, and to use many different colors. The different shapes, sizes, and colors will stimulate your brain, thus making the meal that much more enjoyable. For example: the broccoli will be a little hard, the tomatoes a little cold, and the colorful veggies will appear in various chunks and slices, etc.

Cook:
- Boil water in an over-sized pot with a pinch of salt until you get large bubbles
- In a wok-sized pan, add in this order:
o a lot of olive oil (med to high heat for 20 seconds)
o onions, garlic, spicy peppers (cook for a min)
o broccoli and carrots (stir then cook for 2-3 min)
o sweet peppers, zucchini, olives, asparagus, etc.
o lots of oregano and basil and a pinch of salt, and cayenne pepper after a couple of minutes and stir.
- Cook for 7-10 min more (stirring occasionally)
- Add the pasta to boiling water. Do not add olive oil.
- When the pasta is nearly finished (2 min left) add all tomatoes to the wok and stir. Cover and cook with heat for 30 seconds. Then turn off the heat but leave the lid on for about three minutes.
- Strain the pasta, set the table, stir the sauce again and serve the sauce over the pasta.

 

The story behind this recipe
I grew up on an island in Maine with lobster in my blood. Even today I can’t escape the craving for seafood at least twice per week as a result of this heritage. But when I went away to college in Scotland I needed to learn to cook not only on my own but with unfamiliar foods. The story of this recipe isn’t one based on what my grandmother taught me. Instead it’s about a dish that has evolved over time. We grew up together, and it remains my favorite dish to cook not only because of its flavors, but because of its flexibility and diversity.

Learning to cook for the first time was a challenge. I had no idea that lemon and mushrooms don’t go well together. I also had no idea that broccoli takes more time to cook than onions. Finally, I was pretty poor and didn’t have enough to eat out or buy a lot of pre-made dinners, so I bought whatever was in my budget and threw them into a pot and cooked away. Some days it was a disaster (what? I need to use olive oil to coat the pot?). Others it was magnificent (pan fried tomatoes with garlic and oregano are pretty good). I borrowed spices from my friends until I had the money to buy my own. It turns out I really like spicy tomato dishes, which is quite different from Scottish cuisine, I know, but in time I learned how to put foods together in the ways I liked.

Of course life changed. I was married to a woman from Greece for while, so I learned a lot about Greek food. Then I lived in Chile and lovingly drank jugo de marisco. I now live in Brazil with my girlfriend, and the palette and ways of cooking and eating here are completely different than I’ve ever imagined. But one thing has always endured inside of me: I want to learn how to cook a spicy seafood fra diavolo. After all, it’s been that dish that I’ve been unknowingly trying to cook all these years. I’m not Italian, but that’s my dish and I want to learn how to make it, and jar it, and share it, and love it. This is a bit of a dream of mine, and only Italy can do it.