Birthdays are always stressful -- to the surprise giver, meaning, Donny. Since this year my birthday fell on a Wednesday, a school day, I've decided to veto our plan of going to Spagheddies. I would cook my birthday lunch instead and in turn, ease some load off Donny.
I love cooking (and food shopping) so the labor is not to be fussed about and I got lots of free time, so why not? It'll be a treat for both Donny and me. He'll just have to show up at my doorstep and lunch will be served right then. No time wasted!
I have always coveted the seafood platter at Spagheddies located at the Paragon basement. As I have emphasized before, I have a high standard when it comes to spaghetti (or pasta dishes in general) and Spagheddie's spaghetti? It passed with flying colors. For a moment after taking a forkful of it, I did not feel like cooking again because my pasta dish will never be half as good as their spaghetti. Then Donny, the ever comforter, told me not to even dare compare my cooking to Spagheddie's spaghetti because mine definitely trumps it -- no doubt about it. Or something to that effect. He's so good at that and I believed him. Of course. So I stopped whining after that and recovered my self-worth.
So for my birthday, I have decided to try my hand at replicating the Spagheddie's seafood platter. Like a determined cook that I am, I shopped for my favorite shellfish (crayfish, shrimps) at Carrefour (currently my favorite grocery store because it has everything except Ghirardelli), cooked them separately, then combined them in a tomato-based sauce with fresh Italian parsley and Italian seasoning (oregano, basil, marjoram, thyme, rosemary, etc.). It was a lot of work because:
1) I do not know how to shop for shellfish, especially, CRAYFISH. I have no idea how to choose a healthy-looking crustacean fit for cooking. Turning over each one using the tongs was an awkward moment and a little bit scary for me. But I got over that and then there's the matter of cooking it, which brings me to point number 2.
2) I tried cracking the crayfish open before I cook them but not even the heavy cleaver could cause damage to those rock-hard carapace. So I experimented with cooking it in sauteed garlic and lots of white wine. Added some salt and then eventually some water because I'm afraid of putting too much wine. All I needed was some steam for the crayfish to cook. When it was cooked, I was able to chop the crayfish into two. Sampled some of the meat and wow! It's got kick! Success!
3) I forgot to mention the cleaning. Cleaning the shellfish was a chore. Your nose can only take in so much of that "uncooked seafood" smell.
4) I later learned that it's better to buy crustaceans (like lobsters, crayfish) alive because the meat will easily spoil once they're dead. So there, I will not shop for dead crayfish again.
So anyway, the shrimps were sauteed as usual, except I peeled the shrimps and sauteed the shells first until slightly crispy. I removed them from the pan, then I sauteed the peeled shrimps. Makes it more flavorful that way.
The spaghetti sauce was made using lots of chopped garlic, fresh tomatoes, bell peppers, fresh Italian parsley and a generous dash of Italian seasoning. Then I added a tablespoon or two of Leggo's Bolognese sauce for added flavor and richness. You could never go wrong with this.
The result? It was a good first try, so, yay!
Donny showed up at my doorstep promptly at 1:30 pm (he had lessons in the morning and went directly to my house from school) and presented me with 3 Colombian roses in a shade that I've never seen before. It's yellowish with a red trim -- something like that (look at the picture above). They're lovely. Nothing like a bunch of flowers from your boyfriend to make you feel like a birthday girl.
So lunch was good and that's just the start of my birthday celebration.
