Say My Kitchen: Macaroni with Seafood Marinara 意式海鲜通心粉

My husband is doing his first 101 km ultra marathon today. I must make energy boosting food to help him recharge in one of the check points. He did a 78 km ultra marathon last year. From that experience, I learnt that he would lose his appetite to eat due to physical exertion. I derived that the food that I prepare must fulfil a few criteria :

Food must not be too oily. Otherwise, he would not even eat.
Food cannot be too bland. This is to entice his appetite.
Must help him load carbohydrates and protein due to his energy exhaustion in the run and the heat.
Food must be convenient for consumption. It must be the "use a spoon and eat all type". Nothing too frivolous. Food does not have to be in huge portion and must not be dry.

This 101 km run is totally out of his comfort zone and I am making an ultra comfort food, hopefully to help boost him.

Ingredients (enough for 2) :

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160 gm of macaroni (or enough for 2)
1 cup of mixed seafood (pre-marinate with a pinch of salt and sugar)
2 pcs of hot dogs/sausages (sliced)
1 cup tomato paste (you can use canned/bottled ones or home-cooked ones)
1 cup of grated or shredded parmesan cheese
1/2 cup basil leaves (finely chopped)
3 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
1 onion (finely chopped)
1 tomato (optional)(diced)
3 mini peppers (optional)(diced)
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp garlic chilli sauce (if you prefer your pasta to taste more tangy)
1/2 cup water
olive oil or cooking oil

(tsp = teaspoon; tbsp = tablespoon)

Method :

For macaroni - Boil water in saucepan and add macaroni. Remember to also add 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp cooking oil so that macaroni would have a little flavour and would not stick together when boil.

Macaroni has the tendency to stick together. Stir and check constantly. Drain and set macaroni aside when ready.

Heat cooking oil in skillet/wok. Saute finely chopped onions and garlic at medium heat.

Add tomato paste & dices, mini pepper dices and 1/2 cup water. Add 1 tsp garlic chilli sauce if you want your macaroni to taste more tangy.

Stir thoroughly and we should see a nice pasta sauce.

Add hot dog/sausage slices (optional).

Add mixed seafood.

Simmer seafood and hot dog slices in sauce till cooked.

Toss in macaroni (that were set aside earlier) and give it a good stir till macaroni evenly coated with sauce.

Turn off heat. Add parmesan cheese.

Add finely chopped basil. Give all ingredients a final toss for 20 seconds. We should see parmesan cheese melting nicely onto macaroni. Trust me, it tastes hugely different before and after parmesan cheese. You may want to add more cheese for a richer flavour.