With all the work I am doing, I definitely need some holiday feeling every now and then. And since my budget and schedule do not allow for a longer vacation, other means of inducing this feeling have to be found.
One of those means that works very well is food – no? Maybe, this is because food tends to be tied to emotions so much. And apart from that, many people may eat differently during a vacation, due to eating out a lot and becoming acquainted with styles of cooking and seasoning they usually do not apply themselves in their everyday life.
However, several years ago – I was about 16 then, so it is almost 13 years ago – I went to Switzerland with my parents, and on that trip, we went to Lucerne and enjoyed a boat ride on the wonderful lake (Vierwaldstättersee in German). For lunch, we went to an Italian restaurant, and I ordered spaghetti with fish and a rosemary flavored tomato sauce. From the fact that I still remember this, so many years later, you can conclude how awesome it was, and how much it has impressed me.
Basically, though, it was a very simple dish: Just pasta, tomatoes, fish, and rosemary. But it was a combination of ingredients and flavors that I was not used to at all. My mom – who is a very fine cook, by the way, and also a great baker – does not cook with herbs and spices too much, instead, her cooking style rather appreciates the simplicity and quality of the ingredients. I, on the other hand, am quite different in that regard: In my kitchen shelf, you will find at least 30 different herbs and spices, and I need them all! And with rosemary being one of them, I recreated this dish in a Paleo-friendly (grain-free) version.
The fish and tomatoes could stay the same, but instead of pasta, I made zucchini tagliatelle. However, you can of course make this with real pasta as well. This dish really is about the sauce ingredients and flavors.
ZUCCHINI TAGLIATELLE WITH FISH AND ROSEMARY TOMATO SAUCE
1 serving
Ingredients
olive oil
1 clove of garlic, peeled anf finely chopped
150 g (5 oz) white fish filet, cut into cubes
3 tomatoes, cut into pieces
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 twig of fresh rosemary (or 1/4 tsp of dried rosemary, or both)
1 medium-sized zucchini, cut into tagliatelle
Directions
Heat oil in a pot. Fry the garlic until fragrant, then add the fish and roast it from all sides. Add the tomatoes, season with salt, pepper, and rosemary, and cook covered on low heat for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, heat some more oil in a pan and roast the zucchini tagliatelle until nicely tender. Season with salt and pepper. Serve the zucchini tagliatelle with the fish and tomato sauce and enjoy.
