Dear well-loved and appreciated readers,
I’m wondering if you would do me a favor.
If you’ve read and liked my most recent book,
Here are the links:
For Amazon: https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
And for Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53468697-hail-mary
Online reviews are the best kind of word-of-mouth for helping an author’s book make it in the world and a few words from you would be much appreciated.
Thanks so much, and enjoy today’s Ailantha!
A TALE OF TWO LINGUINES
It so happens that this seafood dish is a spin-up of an old perennial family favorite that in my recipe file is entitled Pasta Primavera, but which my family calls Linguine.
But anyway, it was just recently - since I've been striving to up my home-cooking game during the restaurant-less COVID epidemic - that I came up with the idea of kicking the old Linguine up a notch by shuffling the ingredients. For example, one time I tried tossing in some shrimp. Another time I tried sautéing some chopped onions and garlic in olive oil then adding a can of diced tomatoes and fresh parsley, and then subtracting the broccoli from the standard Linguine recipe and substituting the sauté.
When Tom's and my 44th wedding anniversary rolled around, as going out for a celebration dinner was out of the question in the midst of the still-percolating COVID epidemic, I was pondering what I could make for dinner that would be both celebratory and restaurant-esque.
That's when I decided to try combining the ingredients of my two previous Linguine upgrades - the shrimp and the onion, garlic, and tomato sauté - and adding a a couple more seafood items. I ended up adding some frozen mussels and frozen flaked lobster to the mix, and switching the fettuccine out for spaghetti, just for the sake of novelty.
However, for the sake of those to whom the original linguine recipe might in fact seem more appealing than the seafood version - my children, for example who were scandalized that I would tinker with a family food tradition that they consider sacrosanct, not to mention that most of them are vegetarian or near-vegetarian - I'm going to give the recipe for Linguine as well as for Seafood Linguine, as I've christened the upgraded version. Also, though I'm going to give the recipe using fettuccine as that's what I use, feel free to use spaghetti, as pictured above, or even...linguine.
So then, here are the two linguine recipes, Linguine and Seafood Linguine.
Recipe #1: Linguine
Ingredients:
1 pound cooked buttered fettuccine (or whichever pasta you prefer) seasoned with salt and pepper
1 package Knorr vegetable recipe mix
3 1/2 cups of milk
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 bunch (or as much as you want) cooked broccoli
salt and pepper to taste
Method:
1. Cook one pound of fettuccine.
2. Melt some butter over the cooked fettuccine and season with salt and pepper.
3. In a large pot melt the 1/2 cup of butter.
4. Scald the milk in the microwave while the butter is melting. (This step isn't absolutely necessary but it makes the sauce boil faster if you start with hot milk).
5. Stir the tablespoon of flour and the vegetable recipe mix into the melted butter.
6. Stir in the hot milk.
7. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly (the constant stirring is important!) until the mixture just bubbles.
8. Simmer the sauce for ten minutes longer, stirring from time to time.
10. When the sauce is finished simmering add the cooked broccoli,
11. Then add the fettuccine.
12. Toss, add salt to taste, and serve.
Recipe #2: Seafood Linguine
Ingredients:
1 pound cooked buttered fettuccine (or whichever pasta you prefer) seasoned with salt and pepper
1 package Knorr vegetable recipe mix
3 1/2 cups of milk
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup butter or margarine
3 or 4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 an onion, chopped
2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic (or two cloves fresh garlic)
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
fresh parsley
1 pound frozen cooked shrimp, tails removed
2 7 oz.packages imitation lobster
salt and pepper to taste
* In the recipe for the pasta pictured in my 2/22/2021 blog and in this blog,
...and two 7 oz. bags of frozen imitation lobster pieces.
Method:
1. Thaw the shrimp (or you can rinse the shrimp for a few minutes under cold water just before you add them to the sauce) and imitation lobster pieces for several hours in the refrigerator.
2. chop the onion.
7. While the sauce is simmering for ten minutes, rinse the shrimp and pull off the tails,