Simple Seafood Spaghetti

I really love seafood. All of it. Fish, shellfish, crustaceans, you name it. Anything that smells of the sea and reminds me of home.

However, living in Damascus, I never really get all the fish I crave. The fish in the market place scares me, sitting in the sun over crushed ice for who knows how long. The freaky thing is if you go into the fish store and ask what came in today, the fish guy doesn’t point at anything on this ice block. Nope, he pulls out big Styrofoam ice boxes from the depths of his store and shows you what he’s got. I can only imagine the perils of the people who buy the stuff on display. And I wonder how long it will take for today’s fish to get there.

Anyway, all this is history now since I have “my fish guy.” By my fish guy, I mean my connection to the fresh fish markets of Syria’s coast. The guy goes up to the fish market almost everyday to buy what is fresh and delivers it to my door. It is in fact, so fresh, that he is often seen with a small, freshly caught fish in his hand, munching as he drives to make his deliveries…

Simple Seafood Spaghetti

Serves 2

400 grams Calamari & Octopus, cut into chunks

150 grams Spaghetti

1 tbsp Fresh Rosemary, chopped

3 cloves Garlic, minced

Juice of 1 Lemon

1 tbsp Butter

Olive Oil

Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until just al dente as per the package instructions. Drain and set aside.

In a large pan, heat about 2 tbsp olive oil on low-med heat. Add the garlic and rosemary and cook slowly until garlic is soft. It is important to keep the heat low so that you do not burn the garlic.

Turn the heat up to medium, and add the octopus. Cook for about 1 min, then add the calamari. Toss for another minute until the calamari becomes just opaque. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the pasta, lemon juice, and butter. Toss together and that’s it!

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil.