Weekend Recipe - Penne with Prawns - Without the Prawns

....long sigh. Tough times, lots of people around Italy and elsewhere don't have much cash, 'no tengo dinero', not in small part because a very few people have so much.... they don't really know what to do with. Except waste it buying symbolic stuff absurdly priced from other rich people, you know, another 15 million apartment in one of those dying downtowns, Manhattan, London, Rome, other places, or the Swiss chalet, the beach house in Santorini, the country Villa in the Cotswolds. Eames chairs (everybody has an Eames,) expensive escorts sometimes becoming 2nd or third wives (for male senior executives,) Bentleys, Ossetra, 3-starred eateries (that sometimes don't merit even a single... asteroid.) People of the crowd whose names you might find in the Panama papers, men and women who seriously use 'fiscal optimization' like little Orwellian pigs. We used to call it more directly: tax cheaters... but that's a notion that doesn't fit so well. Not only for the number of zero involved (000,000,00...) It's gone well beyond mere cheating. Creative refusal, one could say kindly, or less so: creative accounting for criminals. Or, more simply: ass-holes.

   Combined with the dwindling amount of wild fish remaining in our over-heated, acidifying oceans and seas... have made quality sea-food, some kinds anyway, a bonafide luxury. Scampi, all-in-all, is still my overall favorite. Best if Mediterranean, sweetest-most intense aftertaste if from the Adriatic, not bad from the Atlantic either (North. Those Argentinian beasts you often find in the supermarket aren't bad but... it's like comparing dry-aged Chianina or excellent Black Angus to a generic t-bone.) The best way after all is done and said to make them: split'em open, ev olive oil, salt and pepper lightly, hot grill, 2 minutes per side, maybe some toasted good bread rubbed with garlic and dribbled with fresh oil, a beer, lively red or half and half (half wine, half bitter lemon soda,) and ahhhh. On a daily basis... as good as Ossetra with red potato blini and sour cream. Better, maybe, depending on context. But.

   They'll also richly flavor a tomato sauce for a delightful pasta. And if you find the small ones fresh that's still not a plate which will dent your liver (as in having to sell a piece of it to buy the stuff.) However a lot of fish sellers don't even bother carrying them anymore, if you live downtown or in the suburbs, preferring to cater to those Eames chair clients. Only big and perfect and reaaally expensive. not only denting your liver but costing one of your kidneys to boot. (By the way, scampi should always still be kicking, or clasping, when you buy them fresh - or don't bother. If you're squeamish... don't look. Set them in the freezer for about 30-45 minutes before cleaning and splitting. Or go buy a fish sandwich at McDonalds.)

   If it's getting near the end of the month and you haven't the way to buy some fresh scampi nor the will to go get tango-scampis, this is weird dish that weirdly mimics, albeit distantly, like a shadow at mid-day or the Cavs in the finals vs. Golden State, pasta with scampi. Get a couple vine-ripened tomatoes and maybe 6-8 sicilian date or fragrant cherry tomatoes, peel and clean. A couple cloves of red garlic (to repeat what's been said in other recipes: DO NOT BUY, EVER, CHINESE GARLIC,) light crushed leaving the skin-peel on. Small capers or 'capperini', best if you can find the Capri ones but as long as they have harmonious, easy flavor. Not those big cocktail ones in any case. Forgive the next but... a pinch or two or good quality powdered fish broth. then Pepperoncino (hot pepper) salt, pepper, 1 tin of good tuna ventresca under oil (drained), 1 decent anchovy filet under oil, sweet small-leafed basil, ev olive oil, 1 cup of good dry white wine, and grated lemon rind. Ah, 180 rams of hard-grained linguini or spaghetti. Or Penne, which work fine as well and have the oddness of changing flavor perception. Weirdly, the finished results really do remind of scampi.

 

Easy as... grilling scampi. Put the pot of salted water on to boil in back for the spaghetti. Flavor a tablespoon or two of oil in medium-low heat with the garlic, remove,  then after crushing or loosely dicing the tomatoes add half into the pan, salt and pepper, raise heat to medium. after about 4-5 minutes or so add the rest of the tomatoes and fish powder, 2-3 minutes after add the anchovy and diced capers, about a tablespoon full, mix and break the fish up into the sauce once it's heated a bit. Add the wine, stir and let evaporate about a minute (raising the heat 30 seconds or so). Add the hot pepper, diced fresh or a pinch of powder. Now check for salt and adjust, then add the canned tuna ventresca. Stir, then turn off the heat after a minute or so and immediately add a few leaves, 6-7, of loosely shredded basil. Once the pasta is ready al dente, drain and transfer into the sauce pan, toss well, then add the lemon rind freshly grated and a finish off with a dash or two of fresh olive oil. Of course, feel free to change ingredients or kick it up a notch to taste: parsley instead of basil, comfit the tomatoes, ecc.

Plate and serve with a good chilled white... and pity those whose catered dinner will look pretty good but suck by compare. (Except the Ossetra or Osetra. Some good things money does buy. Sigh.)

Ingredients for 2:
EV olive oil
180 grams of linguini or penne
1 tin of good tuna ventresca under oil
1 anchovy filet under oil
2 cloves of red garlic
6-8 leaves of sweet basil
salt
pepper
1 tblesp. of small capers
a pinch of fish soup powder
a pinch of ground hot pepper
2 medium sized vine-ripened tomatoes
6-8 ripe cherry tomatoes
1/2 grated lemon rind
1 cup of good dry white wine

see above for the prep.