New Year Decadence

Its 2015!!

We recently returned from Sydney after a fantastic 2 week holiday with family and friends.  Its the first time we have been home this time of year for a number of years.  Our trip was packed with celebrations for my son’s 5th birthday, my husband’s birthday, a wedding, and lots of catch ups with friends, some who we hadn’t seen in years.  And of course Christmas!

We all know what this time of year represents, aside from the traditional, and that is food and lots of it!

Christmas Eve was our big family feast.  Everyone played a part; sumptuous seafood platters, a Turducken for something different, mum’s Ham, amazing pudding and an array of roast veg and colourful salads.  I’m sure there was more!

Now we have returned to Dubai and this is the first recipe for the year.  And what better way to start than with a fabulously special dish such as this one, courtesy of my mum.

We were fortunate to have this cooked for us twice, and is my dad’s current favourite – they in fact served it again (after we had left) for New Years Eve dinner party and I must say it would have fit the bill perfectly for such an occasion.  It is a surprisingly simple dish to prepare but you need the best and freshest quality ingredients and its quite a special outcome.  Depending on the type of seafood you choose, it will either be decadent or even more decadent and nothing short of decadent!

Its a simple poached seafood on a bed of fresh pasta with a Pernod and saffron sauce.  Some people may not be familiar with this liqeur or like me, just discard it as being too strong in aniseed flavour and not to my taste (even though I love liquorice!).  But in this cream based sauce, it combines perfectly to create a rich mellow flavour that you can’t quite put your finger on, but it’s delicious.

As your party season may be drawing to an end, this year is just beginning and has the potential to be full of so many possibilities.  If it’s anything like 2014, there will be joys and challenges, surprises and adventures.  Have plans but keep room for the unexpected, it makes things more interesting.  Happy New Year.

Seafood Pasta with Pernod Sauce

 

Print

Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

30 mins

 

PS - Feel free to use one or all of the mentioned seafood. I think just prawns makes for a great dish. I'm not sure if using a firm white fish would work as it might break up too much but I suppose other shellfish like clams and scallops would be pretty special.

Author: Edwina Stuart

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 4 small lobster tails, in shell
• 12-16 large raw prawns, peeled and deveined
• 2 small whole calamari, cleaned, scored and sliced into strips
• ½ bottle white wine
• 400- 600g fresh linguine (my mum used a parsley pasta, plain is fine)
• 4 handfuls of baby spinach (rocket would be lovely also)
• 50g unsalted butter, melted
• 2 eschallots finely sliced
• ¼ teaspoon saffron threads
• 300 ml cream (my mum uses light cream)
• ¼ cup pernod (my mum uses ⅓ cup)

Instructions

1. To poach the seafood, pour the white wine and equal parts water into a fish steamer or saucepan and bring to a simmer.
2. Place the seafood in and poach until just cooked (a little under is best). About 5 minutes for small lobster tails, then prawns and calamari for 3 minutes. Remove and set aside covered to keep warm. Lobster tails will need to be removed from their shells at this time, carefully.
3. In a small saucepan melt the butter, add the saffron and eschallots and sauté until onions are tender, about 5 minutes.
4. On a low heat add the cream and pernod and simmer until combined, don't boil.
5. Cook the pasta according to directions.
6. Arrange a handful of baby spinach on each plate, serve a good heap of pasta then arrange seafood on top. Pour a generous serving of sauce over each plate.

3.2.2708