I think this is my first real ingredient-through-finished-dish recipe post I've done in Uruguay! Wow, and it's only taken me 9 months! It's silly it's taken me so long, but better late than never.

Tonight I made Spaghetti with Squid and Peas on page 150 of "Pasta Cookbook - Definitive Guide To Choosing, Making And Cooking Pasta, Including Over 350 Inspirational Recipes". I've had the book for years, but when we lived in Nebraska I never really tried any of the seafood based sauce recipes. Now that we live on the ocean, I'm having a blast!

Here is part of the seafood counter at my local Devoto. The fish in front is a Corvina. Across the continent they are known as Chilean Sea Bass. They are plentiful here, wild caught, and very tasty. I bought one of those for another recipe I'll tell about in a later blog post. Behind the Corvina are the squid I needed for my recipe. I only bought the bells and they had been skinned. The outer membrane was removed and I opted to not take any tentacles and instead replace them with shrimp. A slight alteration to the recipe, but I just love shrimp. If you can see the tag it says the squid go for 99 pesos per kilo or about $2.36 per pound.

Here are *most* of the ingredients. I didn't have any fresh garlic, so I used dried, and that's not in the picture. I also somehow forgot to throw the onion on the board, but here are the ingredients:

1 pound prepared squid (I actually used a half kilo of squid bells and a half kilo of shrimp)

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 (14 ounce) can of chopped Italian plum tomatoes

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary

1 cup frozen peas

12 ounces fresh or dried spaghetti

1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley

salt and ground black pepper

The beautiful spaghetti I had was from La Papatoia pasta factory in Melo, Uruguay. The owner, Mariano, makes delicious fresh pastas of all kinds, daily! I was given some as a gift and it was delicate, beautifully made, and colored with red pepper.

Here is a squid bell. I think it looks like an elf hat! I washed them thoroughly, then cut them in half across before slicing them into 1/4 inch strips.

1. Cut the prepared squid into strips about 1/4 inch wide. Finely chop any tentacles.

2. Heat the oil in a skillet or medium saucepan, add the finely chopped onion and cook gently, stirring, for about 5 minutes until softened. Add the squid, tomatoes, garlic, red wine vinegar and sugar.

3. Add the rosemary, with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, stirring, then cover and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Uncover the pan, add the peas and cook for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the instructions on the package, then drain and turn it into a warmed bowl.

4. Pour the sauce over the pasta, add the parsley, then toss well and serve.

I also added some grated parmesan.

Finally, if you follow the health advice of Matt Stone at 180 Degree Health, you should look at that beautiful bowl of pasta, listen to the words of Napoleon Dynamite and, "EAT THE FOOD, TINA!!" Most importantly, do it with no regret.

That was a great bowl of pasta and I was glad to eat the food.