Bucatini with Shrimp, Mussels, and Chorizo

This was the weekend from hell. I came down with horrendous flu-like symptoms Saturday night, thankfully just after dinner service ended, that left me violently shivering in bed despite wearing as many clothes as I could find and that left me on the edge of nausea for hours. TMI, I know, so bottom line: our paella party that I had been looking forward to for weeks and scheduled for Sunday afternoon went up in flames. [You don't want to know about my Monday morning when Ann schlepped me to the ER with sacroiliac joint issues to the point where I couldn't walk.] Suffice it to say that we were sitting on a load of perishable shrimp and mussels on Monday night and needed to find a way to use them.

I was barely up to cooking and so I let Ann decide what to do for dinner. She wanted red sauce with shrimp and mussels over pasta. Easy enough because I already had onions, tomato pulp, and a parsley-garlic slurry all ready for the paella that was not to be. I made the sauce (at which point Ann decided she wanted chorizo in it, so I put some of the paella chorizo in) and once it was nearly cooked, threw in the shrimp and mussels, covered the pan, and let the seafood steam on top of the reducing sauce.

Shrimp and Mussels

Annie Serving up Bucatini

It was really terrible. You might imagine that this would be a huge quantity for two people and you'd be right. I forgot to mention that we also had two 14-year old boys to help, and that this quantity is really but a pittance for them.