This terrific, flexible recipe has quickly become a fixture at my table. Thanks!
I didn't get past the basic sauce. I used good ingredients, including saffron, as others recommended. The sauce was SOUR. Never happened to me before. I tried to fix it in different ways, but it was hopeless, so I tossed it. I had to use a jar of marinara at the last minute. Awful recipe!
P.S. Sorry - I meant to add that I happened to have some left-over pitted black kalamata olives so I used them instead of the green which I didn't have. They worked perfectly.
This was delicious. I added a 1/2 cup of white wine in place of some of the water and topped it off with aioli on the side. My husband thought it was real bouillabaisse and we ate it with spoons. Thank you!
Once I admitted in the Food Section that I was unable to imitate the slurping of spaghetti or macaroni from a bowl with chopsticks (hashi in Jap.), as one sees this done with noodles in Japanese historical samurai films. Now I am pleased to report that I replicated this method of eating with the real Japanese soba noodles, even if such a method of eating leaves much to be desired from the Western point of view of table manners.
Are you sure it's ok to use peeled shrimp?
@Mello Char Not quite sure about your question. Shrimp have issues. US shrimp mandatory. Asian Shrimp (China, Vietnam, etc.) raised in poor conditions and mass produced. Best to stay away from them. Good fish stores sell shrimp with shells on and off. On probably better than off. Supermarket shrimp from US frozen fine. Peeled matter of freshness and condiion.
Ahhh.
Caciucco the traditional fish soup from Livorno.
Missing parsley and thyme.
In Livorno the soup would be served on top a roasted slice of bread. No pasta.
But I like it! Thank you.
Can't thank you enough for this recipe, Ms. Roman! My husband and I tried it last night (shrimp & calimari) and were both transported...we sat for a long time after finishing, with our wine, looking at our view, and coming up with lots of combinations to be tried in the future, already planning dinner parties with our closest friends to show off our new favorite dish. A real triumph!
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I fwded this to my brother and he replied, "Think of the sauce for Alison Roman’s seafood pasta as a very casual, one-pot bouillabaisse, infinitely riffable and ready in a fraction of the time." Quite obviously he could find no way bto improvev on the story, as he calls this account.
Allison has a very close and personable style to her writing which adds a suitable cosmetic touch, also added by the beautiful images. Although the recipe is thorough I do wonder whether the tomatoes were diced or crushed by hand, which is what I think I concluded. This is how we did it back in the 50s.
I have some swordfish which I might use, also, but not together, some anchovies and basil which I would disintegrate like an alicé sauce. I suppose I will use fusilli.
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I have basically been making a version of this recipe every year for the last 10 years while vacationing in Chatham, Massachusetts where the seafood is ridiculously fresh. I tend to add capers and white wine but not always. For one particularly memorable meal, we rolled out fresh pasta with an empty wine bottle!
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It looks like the Times relented and the Cooking Section is still part of my basic subscription. I clicked on the link for the recipe and it opened.
There was a comment in there to undercook the pasta slightly and finish cooking in the sauce. The sauce picks up a little starchiness of the pasta, and the pasta absorbs the flavor of the sauce. yum
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@mlb4ever. that's happened to me as well - only it won't let me access it any longer which really is upsetting. It's one of the reasons I continued my subscription - I feel they used me to help shape this section as well (as they did all other participants) but to now ask for more money for something they beta tested on me is disheartening. I'm considering ending my subscription altogether honestly.
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@Kat @mlb4ever
Thanks, I thought I was losing it. No more Recipe Box, effectively (it is allowing me access to only 3 out of 35 recipes I had saved online).
Only a limit number of recipes are now searchable under my subscription. No heads-up, no explanation. It's kind of like getting in your car on the hottest day of the year and finding out the manufacturer has disabled the air conditioning because they've decided it's no longer included in the price.
I don't take it personally, but it's slightly insulting.
Oh, good recipe.
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@Brian a hack around or whatever that term is to go on facebook and follow them - then you can access the recipes as they are shared but it's upsetting and as you say there was no announcement - no set up - meaning a sales pitch via e-mail - no statement of what it will cost to subscribe... I'm bummed still - and yes it's funny that I took it personally! I'll survive, of course!
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Unless you are a body builder, construction worker or you pick cotton for a living, you shouldn't be eating pasta, bread, rice, potatoes and other carbohydrate-dense foods on a regular basis in ANY form. Yet the print media, like the rest of corporate America, keeps promoting obesity, which leads to Type II Diabetes, which leads to blindness, limb amputation, kidney failure, etc. It's no different from promoting sugary soft drinks or ice cream. However, pasta-dishes should be kept simple, like the Pre-Industrial Revolution Italian food. And although beats imported Italian capellini, there are lots of pastas made primarily from more nutritious non-wheat sources.
@Jay David
Nonsense. Offering a recipe is not promoting overeating anything. Very few real foods, including carbs, will on their own make the eater sick in the long term if they are eaten in small portions, even "regularly" (whatever that means). There are other influences at work, too, such as level of activity and hereditary factors. No one forces you to eat Olive Garden-size portions of carbs at home every day. If you cannot limit how much you eat of pasta, or ice cream, or steak, or broccoli, then fine, cut it of your diet. Just remember that your overeating is your own responsibility.
But I do notice that even as you rail, you suggest acceptable pasta. Which way to you want it: eschewing death-inducing carbs or enjoying Italian capellini or other pastas? If you want it both ways, you need a better segue.
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@JD.
Since you're in NM cut corn tortillas into ribbons like pappardelle and then use Hatch chili peppers for sauce and sprinkle on cojita cheese.
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@Jay David What nonsense! Just eat sensibly.
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Love the simplicity. And the last 2 "cheater secrets"...a teaspoon of lobster base and tablespoon of cooking sherry.
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The photos are a feast for the eyes alone.
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We've been making this around here for years, but start with a well sauteed yellow onion and finish with half a bottle of a good white wine. Serve over linguini. Always a hit around here, and great the second night, too, if you're careful not to overcook the pasta.
@Mike Osterfeld " finish with half a bottle of a good white wine."
That sounds like far too much wine, unless you're drinking it.
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*Canned* tomatoes???
Yuck!!!
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@inframan Some canned tomatoes are very flavourful (e.g. Cento San Marzano whole tomatoes, Muir Glen organic whole tomatoes), and often, fresh tomatoes can be quite insipid in a cooked dish. Plus, canned tomatoes are peeled. I usually use canned tomatoes for a cooked tomato dish, except sometimes in late summer when I'll use small, fresh tomatoes for a quick tomato sauce, or a mixture of fresh and canned.
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@JH Sorry but there is no comparison between canned & fresh tomatoes. I have tried them all. On top of which some combination of the tomato acid & metal can always produces a gastric reaction.
I repeat: Yuck!!!
@ inframan Pacific NW
Congratulations on a frank and courageous opinion about tomatoes. I am with you, extending your reaction to most of the tomato varieties.
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That's nearly my Boullabaisse recipe. I don't use so much olive oil and I peel my shrimp and crack the exoskeleton of crabs or lobster if I choose to use them. I choose a large square of cheese cloth and place the shells in the middle along with some other dried and fresh herb and a handful of sliced fennel. Then I tied all together. It goes into the pot with the tomatoes and simmers away with everything else. Before I add the seafood I take out the packet. Seafood cooks so quickly the pot is done in 6-8 minutes if the seafood is a room temp to start.
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@ Susannah Allanic France
Of course anyone is free to call one's recipe anything one likes, but does your tongue twist and your fingers on the keyboard move to call your concoction bouillabaisse? :--))
The late Joël Robuchon made a great effort to align the French and Japanese seafood cuisines. Perhaps due to his efforts there are to be had in Japan little packets of concentrated bouillabaisse. By the way, the name in Japanese is pronounced almost like in French and it is written in four syllabic characters of katakana or hiragana.
I applaud Ms. Roman's choice and preparation methods of seafood, but I do not like corrupting it by mixing with pasta and tomato sauce. The latter belongs only in the Bloody Mary.
My partner has been traveling in Asia for the past three weeks. I think this might be the welcome home meal to blow his mind! So the noodle in the photo is paccheri? hmmm...
For those culinary oddballs like me who cannot eat fish, I am hoping this sauce, "the sauce dreams are made of" coupled with either "fat tubes or thin strands of al dente pasta" will entice, reward, and fulfill a weeknight dinner option along with warm, fresh and crusty bread to help soak up the "gravy".
The recipe looks divine and one in which I cannot wait to try. OUTSTANDING photography as well.
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