Sicilian cooking

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Spicy Shrimp Sauce

I love this recipe! It’s been in my family since forever — a real Sicilian hand-me-down. It’s great with all kinds of seafood.

We used to catch blue-claw crab on Long Island and make them with this sauce. Wonderful for lobster, too — a real Fra Diavolo taste. But here’s the more regular go-to: shrimp!

Make it as spicy as you like — I put in about a teaspoon of red pepper flakes, but it can be hotter, or less hot, and it’s still the best sauce ever.

The combo of dried oregano, minced fresh parsley, minced garlic, and red pepper flakes are the umami magic.

Plus Pastene tomatoes, originally from the Boston area, are here in the Southeast and at Publix. I love to use the San Marzano DOP or the Kitchen-Ready Crushed Tomatoes. Both work great in this recipe.

Try it. You’ll love it!

Spaghetti with Spicy Shrimp Tomato Sauce (serves 3-4)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound raw shrimp, peeled, deveined
3-4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1.5 teaspoons dried oregano
3 teaspoons, minced fresh Italian parsley
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or to taste)
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 28-ounce can Pastene San Marzano Tomatoes or Pastene Crushed Tomatoes
1/2 lb. Spaghetti or Linguine

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan until hot. Season the shrimp lightly with salt. Add shrimp to pan with oil. Cook tossing shrimp until almost cooked through and pink, about 1-2 minutes. Remove shrimp from pan. Reserve.

Add garlic, oregano, parsley, and red pepper flakes to pan. Sauté until garlic softens and starts to color, less than a minute. Add the wine, cook another minute.

Add tomatoes (if using whole San Marzano tomatoes, cut them roughly with a pair of scissors before adding to the sauce with all the juices), stir to combine. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a pasta pot of water to a boil. Add a tablespoon of salt. Add the pasta. Add shrimp back to sauce while pasta is cooking, simmer sauce for 8-10 minutes more.

Drain pasta. Add to a large serving bowl or platter. Add sauce with shrimp to pasta, toss to coat. Serve with toasted breadcrumbs.

Toasted Breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
salt to taste

Add the breadcrumbs and oil to a small sauté or frying pan. Stir on medium heat until the crumbs turn a golden brown color. Season with salt. Use as a sprinkling condiment to seafood pasta.

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Spaghetti-Stuffed Eggplant

I’ve made a version of this dish for years. Then, in 2016, I took small group to Ragusa, Sicily (my ancestral home). We cooked with a family in their home and this is what they made. It was so good and proved once again that recipes in my family and the ones I encounter in Sicily and Campania have a very direct connection!

I used capellini. In Sicily they used a thicker fusilli. Either way- all good! I hope you’ll try it. Let me know how it goes. 🙂 Happy Cooking! Recipe below!

Spaghetti-Stuffed Eggplant

1 medium eggplant

1/2 cup AP or Self-Rising Flour

olive oil for sautéing 

1 small onion

1 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes

splash of white wine

1/4 pound spaghetti or capellini

2 tablespoons butter

1  1/2 cup ricotta

1/4 pound mozzarella, cut into cubes or thin slices

salt & pepper to taste

Peel the eggplant in strips, so there’s still some skin. Slice thinly into large slices (so you can roll them up). Season the flour with salt and pepper. Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in large frying pan. Dredge eggplant slices in flour and shake off excess. Fry eggplant until golden on each side and slices are softened. Drain on paper towels.

Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a medium saucepan. Add the diced onion and cook for 2-3 minutes until softened. Add splash of wine, let it cook out, then add tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 8-10 minutes.

Heat a medium saucepan filled with water. When boiling, salt water, and add the pasta (break strands in half first for easier handling later). When pasta is done, drain, and stir in 2 tablespoons of butter to coat. Add 2-3 spoonfuls of tomato sauce to pasta and stir to coat.

Place ricotta in a small bowl and season well with salt & pepper. Stir to combine.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Use a 9 X 13 inch pan or casserole or similar (something that can go in the oven). Add a little sauce to the bottom of pan to coat. Place a slice of cooked eggplant on a work surface. Slather some ricotta to cover. Place a couple of tablespoons of pasta. Top with a basil leaf. Roll to close (sometimes you can just close it without too much rolling)— place seam side down in pan. Repeat with the rest of the ingredients, and place the rolled bundles in snugly. Top with some sauce and sprinkle the mozzarella on top.

Bake for 30 minutes or until mozzarella melts and starts to brown. To serve, use a large spoon to get under each bundle to transfer to plates.