Spaghetti with Seafood Tunisian Style

October 8, 2005 | Filed Under Pasta, Seafood, African Cuisine 

Ya Rayi Our Rai is a blog by Farid Zadi with different contributors. It, along with his second blog Algerian Cuisine features enticing North African recipes.

Recently, I tried a recipe for Spaghetti with Seafood Tunisian Style by Anis Toumis. I’m happy to write that I did a decent job.

The ingredients include spaghetti, shrimp, cuttle fish, clams, tomatoes, green chilis, tomato paste, saffron, onions, garlic and a choice of parsley or cilantro.

I once made the comment about not being able to cook until I had all the ingredients that the recipe called for and Anis replied, “Think like a North African when you’re preparing North African dishes. We do not worry about [what] we do not have. We take care with what we do have.”

Well, this was the perfect time for me to follow Anis’ advice, as I didn’t have all the ingredients. With the Spaghetti with Seafood Tunisian Style recipe, I made a few ingredient substitutions and in some cases, omissions.

I don’t know what cuttle fish is and couldn’t find it. I meant to substitute it with another type of fish, but forgot to buy the fish and ended up leaving it out of my recipe, altogether. In any event, I was satisfied to include shrimp and clams alone in the meal.

I couldn’t find green chilis and ended up using cayenne pepper. I didn’t have anymore saffron because I’d used it, earlier, for my paella recipe. As a result, I substituted it with tumeric, instead.

The ingredients also include tabil spice mix – a blend of coriander, caraway, garlic and cayenne pepper. I couldn’t find caraway in the store. So, I left it out. What is caraway, anyway? I have to look it up and see what it looks like.

Following the instructions, I made my spaghetti (Angel Hair pasta) in a separate pot, and made the sauce in another. I sautéed the onions, which took a shorter time than the instructions to turn golden, and added the tomato paste, tomatoes, and spices. Then I added the shrimp and clams. In a short time my meal was prepared.

Angel Hair pasta

Onions, garlic, tomato paste, spices

My only problem was that none of the clams opened, indicating that they weren’t good. I ended up discarding them, unfortunately. As a result, my seafood ingredient was reduced to a list of one – the shrimps.

Fresh tomatoes, shrimp and clams (which never opened)

However, this did not take away from the success of my dish. I garnished it with cilantro and it tasted delicious. Best of all, I liked the spices, which I think made the difference in the recipe.

This is a meal that I plan on making again. Perhaps, the next time around, I’ll find all the ingredients and my clams will open up. If not, that’s okay, too. It’s good to think like a North African when preparing North African dishes.

Paz

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