Top Shelf: by Chef Tim McDonald No crewmate previously encountered in my 10 years of floating around has been more dramatic, theatrical and over-the-top than…
Top Shelf: by Chef Tim MacDonald
There is no place like home …
There is no place like home …
There is no place like home …
And for me, home is Italy and Thailand.
In Bangkok, every evening around 5 p.m. on Soi 22, as the boom-boom girls fill up for the long night ahead, Bing Lee 7 wheels up, parks and begins pumping out the ubiquitous Thai sweet/sour glass-noodle seafood salad, Yum Woon Sen. How else do the boom-boom girls keep those matchstick figures day in and day out? This dish is nutritiously low-calorie, addictive and a bargain for €2.
At the other extreme of the “on charter” spectrum, ladies on yachts also adore a low-calorie count. The following dish, however, is not the norm. It’s something special – something that’s certainly not going to be found in a plastic Publix clamshell. And that’s why it works on charter.
In Italy, south of Rome is where it all happens for me. Napoli is Italy to me. This Neapolitan recipe is the quintessentially Italian pasta dish and would be the most loved of all by the Russian and American charter clientele.
Simply fresh, local seafood tossed with tomatoes, parsley, garlic, wine and bronzo linguini. That’s it. That’s all it is – and that’s why it’s a classic loved by all.
On any yacht at any time, if you serve Bangkok noodles or Napoli pasta, you are sure to hit a home run. All bases covered, all palates satisfied.
LINGUINI WITH SEAFOOD FROM MARINA DI STABIA
Ingredients
Method
A generous blurt of oil is heated up in a wide skillet, and then the garlic is fried till golden brown. Think Goodfellas.
The seafood is then added with the tomato, and after a hot sauté for about 1 minute, the wine is added and a lid seals the pot.
After 1 minute, quickly remove the barely opened seafood and replace it with the hot pasta.
Toss this around and, once coated, add the hot seafood, the parsley and a generous squeeze of lemon.
IMPORTANT: Taste, adjust salt, add more lemon, etc., then quickly serve with a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
The key is the fast motion of cooking the seafood, coating the pasta generously in the sauce, and then serving immediately before the seafood overcooks.
Tim MacDonald (timothymacdonald.weebly.com) has more than 20 years experience as a chef. He was named Concours de Chefs winner for Yachts over 160 feet at the 2011 Antigua Charter Yacht Show. Comments are welcome at below.
Topics: