This is one of those meals that came together because of an alignment of stars…
I headed off 20 miles out of my way to a new grocery store where a couple of friends from my former place of employment work. Naturally, neither of them were there, but I did get to do a bit of shopping.
Nice store, lots of pre-made and fresh items – pretty much the standard, nowadays – and, more importantly, a friendly and helpful staff. People actually made eye contact with me and asked if they could help.
As it was my first time in the store, I just meandered. In my meandering, I saw a package of crayfish tails – cleaned, cooked, and reasonably priced. I put it into the cart. I bought a few other things off the list – I always look for deals or specialty items in any store – and headed up to the cashiers. They were fun.
When I got home, Victor mentioned he was thinking about making some pasta. We have pasta in the freezer from the ravioli he made last week.
In the back of my mind, I had been thinking of an andouille sausage and crayfish dish we had in San Francisco, and his mention of fresh pasta set the wheels in motion. Pasta with spicy Italian sausage and crayfish became the focus.
Victor decided to do half regular and half squid ink, which only made the crayfish and sausage even better.
The sauce became:
- 1 link of hot Italian sausage
- 8 oz cooked crayfish tails
- 6 ounces homemade pasta sauce
- 1/2 cup diced fennel
- 1/2 cup diced onion’2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup clam juice
Saute onion, fennel, and garlic until translucent. Add sausage and cook through. Add pasta sauce and thin with clam juice to desired consistency. Add salt, pepper, and additional red pepper flakes, as desired.
It really was one of those perfect meals. The only thing it lacked was a loaf of really crusty sourdough bread to sop up all of the sauce and wipe the plate clean.
Next week, I need to hit another store and visit some folks I have really been remiss in seeing.
Retirement is good…