Classic pasta - MARINARA

Serve 4 persons
Cooking time: 60 minutes

When exactly a classic marinara, however, is difficult to say. For centuries, Italians cooks have worked with whatever could be freshly fished – for example, octopus, squid, mussels, crabs, scampi, clams, and whiting. There are no exact recipes for a marinara. So from one region, village, or kitchen to another, quite different sauces are prepared, all with completely different tastes.
Which seafood you choose for your sauce is thus down to individual taste – or whatever is available on the fresh fish counter at the time. Tinned seafood can also be used, if preferred.

INGREDIENTS:
500 g pasta
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
120 ml red wine
2 tbsp tomato paste
500 tomatoes
1 small bunch fresh basil
1 small bunch fresh oregano
12 mussels
30 g butter
120 g squid
120 g filleted whiting or cod
200 g shrimp (shelled)
Salt
Freshly ground pepper

HOW TO MAKE:
1. Wash the mussels and remove their beards. Finely chop the onion and herbs. Blanch and skin the tomatoes, remove the cores and seeds, and cut the flesh into the small cubes. Cut the fish fillets into small pieces.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, add the onion and garlic, and brown over low heat.
3. Pour in red wine with tomatoes and tomato paste, simmer for about 10 minutes over medium heat, until the sauce has thickened slightly. Stir several times.
4. Stir the herbs into the sauce and season to taste with salt and pepper. Keep warm.
5. Meanwhile, heat a sufficient quantity of water and boil the mussels for about 5 minutes, until they open. Take the mussels out, discard any that are still closed, and set the others aside. Add some of the cooking water from the mussels to the tomato sauce and bring to the desired consistency.
6. Melt the butter in a skillet and sauté the squid, fish fillets, and shrimp in succession for 1 to 2 minutes, until soft. Add to the warm tomato sauce and stir.
7. While cooking the mussels, cook pasta al dente in a big saucepan full of bubbling salted water. Drain well.
8. Mix the sauce into pasta, add mussels and serve.

COOKING TIPS:
Mussels that are already open should not be cooked or eaten – they may betoxic. Discard them immediately.