Pappardelle with seafood sauce

I read a blog post which discussed the purpose of a recipe -is it a set of instructions (commands even) which should be followed without question or is it a guide provided for the user to interpret accordingly.

How do you view recipes? I’m of the latter persuasion. I find it is very difficult to follow a recipe exactly. My view is that, even if two people cooked side by the side with exactly the same ingredients, their food wouldn’t look or taste exactly the same. So I don’t worry and do as I please.

Take this recipe, for instance. I saw it in Jamie Oliver’s “The Naked Chef Takes Off” – Page 90 – “seafood broth, ripped herbs, toasted bread and garlic aioli”.

I made the seafood broth, more or less like Oliver’s version but only ripped one herb – parsley. The toasted bread was replaced by pappardelle and I skipped the garlic aioli.

Ingredients for 2:

12 mussels
Half a pound of shrimps – I used ones with shells
2 cups of sliced zucchini
2 cups of tomato purée
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
2 shallots, peeled and sliced
1 cup of white wine
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
A handful of parsley, chopped
Olive oil

Half a pound of pappardelle

Method:

1. Bring a pot of water to the boil.
2. Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven or sauté pan on medium heat.
3. Add the garlic and shallots and cook for about five minutes until they are a pale, gold colour.
4. Add the zucchini, tomato purée and wine and cook for a minute.
5. Add the shrimps and mussels. Season with salt and pepper. Mix everything together and cook for about five minutes.
6. Cook the pappardelle in the pot of boiling water until al dente.
7. Drain the pasta.
8. Toss the seafood sauce with the pasta. Garnish with chopped parsley.