Seafood is always seen as ‘that special treat’, mostly prepared at family get-togethers, or special occasions. Why not reserve a few prawns next time, and use them for a mid-week feast.

This has been ‘designed’ with working wives in mind – as my sister in law calls it – meals on speed! Its quick, flavourful, and the hardest part about this is opening the bottle of pasta sauce that’s used to give this dish its incredible flavour.

I was first introduced to pasta sauces by my husband, who loves simple, home-made pasta dishes. He insisted we try one, and I’ve been hooked since. My mother in law swears by the All Joy ‘Shot and Spicy’ variety, and often uses it as a topping on her pizza bases.

They are rather bland just by themselves, so you will need to fancy them up a bit.

But I can assure you, you will find yourself buying bottles of this and using them in about almost anything. Be sure to read the labels first to spot the halaal sign, as only a few of the bottled sauces are certified halaal.

I’ve kind of winged the quantities, depending on the size of you family, and yummy! You will have to use your discretion.

For the seafood pasta:
Sautee 1/2 a large finely chopped onion in some Borges Garlic infused olive oil. Red onion adds to the sweetness, so feel feel to use liberally. Allow the onions to become slightly translucent, but not browned.

To this add a few black peppercorns in (no need to grind, add the whole bits in!)
Sautee gently for 3 / 4 minutes.

Finally add 3 cloves of garlic finely crushed.

Pour in 1 bottle of Ina's 'Chilli, olive and garlic' sauce and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.

As an alternative, I use the All Joy Hot and Spicy should that particular brand not be available. These need to be zhoosed up – the flavour is far too plain jane for our fiery taste-buds!

Add loads of chopped green chillies for an extra kick! You could throw in a dash of green masala if you prefer – have courage, you have an excellent base to work with, so dressing it up a bit cant harm the flavours! Be sure not to overpower it though – the seafood comes with its own lot of flavours, ad you wouldn’t want to mask that!

Add a dash of garlic salt, and top with some salt to taste and a sprinkle of fresh coriander.

Prepare the prawns, mussels and calamari by marinating in some peri-peri spice, or peri-peri sacana if they’re available at your local fishery. Use melted butter as a base, and add lemon juice, salt and crushed garlic. The quantities will vary based on you’re the amounts that you are cooking. Allow to sit a bit, while the sauce is thickening up.

Sautee in a pan, and empty into the pasta, liquid and all!

Stir well, and toss into some freshly boiled penne.
The penne works well, as the juices and flavour of the sauce and seafood are allowed to seep into the crevices of the pasta. Remember not to wash the pasta after straining, as you loose the precious starch that allows the sauce to stick to the pasta.

Serve with a sprinkling of freshly cut coriander! … and some crusty bread to dip into the left-over sauce.

An alternative would be to add cream before adding the seafood, this will give you a whitened seafood pasta, which also works incredibly well if that’s your preference.