What’s for dinner tonight? Spicy seafood pasta.

Let’s talk about this pasta. Here are the ingredients you’ll need:

I can whole tomatoes
red pepper flakes
frozen mussels
frozen shrimp
Shallot or small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
brown rice pasta
1 tsp dried basil
salt and pepper
drizzle of olive oil

It’s very easy to make. 1st, take your frozen mussel meat and shrimp from the freezer and let thaw under cold running water for about 3-5 minutes. You could use fresh too but it would alter cooking times. My shrimp and mussels were pre cooked and frozen. Set aside in fridge until ready to use.

Add the shallot to a large frying pan with the tomatoes, drained. Save the liquid because you might need to add some if the sauce gets too thick. Gently smash the tomatoes while they simmer for 15 minutes and get nice and sweet. If you don’t cook them for long enough they’ll still have that slight “can” flavour. After 15 minutes add the garlic, basil, red pepper flakes salt and pepper. If too much liquid has evaporated, add some tomato juice. Let cook for another 5 minutes.

While this is happening boil a large pot of water for your rice pasta. Every brand is slightly different so follow the directions on the package. I find it very beneficial to stir the pasta often so it cooks evenly and doesn’t clump together.

When there is 3 minutes left of the pasta, add in your seafood to warm through. Drain and rinse the rice pasta and add it to the pan. Give it a lil’ glug of oil. Serve it in a bowl or plate, top with fresh parsley and enjoy! I loved this pasta dish. You honestly can’t tell that it’s rice pasta. I’m sure somewhere there’s a little Italian Nonna cursing me and calling bullshit, but I stand by what I said! This dish was so flavourful and rich without being heavy. I often like my pasta to be smothered in meat, cheese and cream sauce but this was equally as satisfying. You could switch up the seafood and use clams or scallops. Try it with chicken or without protein! The sauce is good enough on its own.