Food and Wine Rigatoni with Sea Bass and Tomatoes

I love pasta. Growing up we had very little money, but the food my mother made was always delicious. One of the main stables on the dinner table was pasta. Any of the various ways that my mom prepared pasta I absolutely loved, from the simple red sauces, to a delicious Asian noodle dish that she invented (still have the hand written recipe and it is one of my favorite foods). I think during my years as a poor undergraduate and graduate student I ate more pasta that any other food and became quite adept at making pasta dishes from whatever ingredients I had in my pantry and fridge. Now that I am married and have kids I try to prepare a pasta dish at least once a week. I love how versatile pasta can be and my two boys will eat anything on their plate as long as it is surrounded by pasta. The November issue of Food and Wine magazine had a recipe for Rigatoni with Sea Bass and Tomatoes, which looked easy and a great way to incorporate more seafood into my family's diet.

This recipe has 10 ingredients and makes 4 servings. The total cooking and prep time is 30 minutes. I had to make some modifications to the recipe due to availability of ingredients. As far as I know I have never seen sea bass in my area. I was going to substitute halibut, but for whatever reason all the halibut was sold out or not stocked at every supermarket I went to (and I went to four). So in the end I substituted cod, since the types of seafood I am able to purchase are relatively limited. I left out the chopped flat-leaf parsley completely. My husband is not a fan of parsley and won't eat dishes in which it is used as a topping, therefore I left it out. Finally, since I was unexpectedly feeding 6 people instead of 4, I used 16 ounces of pasta to extend the recipe, I kept the same amount of all other ingredients. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I made this dish when my in-laws were in town. My father-in-law recently had heart surgery and has been trying to get more fish and lean meats in his diet. I wasn't sure how well this dish would go over since I decided to make it last minute and my father in-law isn't a fan of crushed red pepper. Luckily, this dish turned out very well and my entire family enjoyed it, including my two boys. I found that the longest part of the recipe was prepping the fish, the actual total time took less than suggested by the recipe. Using 16 ounces of pasta I was able to feed 6 people and still have more than enough leftovers for lunch the next day. Overall, a great combination of fish and pasta and very easy to prepare.

For the recipe go to Rigatoni with Sea Bass and Tomatoes.