Recipe

Za'atar Spiced Fish Pasta with Spinach

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Za'atar Spiced Fish Pasta with Spinach

Photo by drbabs

  • This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Seafood Pasta
  • sticksnscones's Testing Notes: This delectable dish has the ability to transform a weeknight meal into a special event. As promised, within 30 minutes you can have a dynamite & healthy meal on the table. The Za'atar is...

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  • Chef

    drbabs's Notes: I am the queen of one-dish meals. I rarely get home from work before 5:30 or 6, and prefer to have a home-cooked dinner, so pasta is a mainstay of our diet. We love pasta with fish, and...

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Serves 2 with leftovers for lunch

Za'atar Spice Rub:

3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds Ask a question about this ingredient

2 tablespoons dried lemon thyme (or regular dried thyme) Ask a question about this ingredient

2 tablespoons sumac Ask a question about this ingredient

2 teaspoons sea salt Ask a question about this ingredient

  1. Dry fish filets and sprinkle both sides with za'atar spice rub. You will not use all of it. Some will go into the sauce when cooking and you will probably have some left over.

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  2. In a large saucepan (You will ultimately put the pasta in this pan so it should be large.), heat oil over medium heat, and saute shallots, onions and garlic till soft but not browned, about 3-5 minutes. Pour in tomatoes and wine, and turn up heat so that sauce comes to low boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until slightly reduced, about 5 minutes. Stir in about a tablespoon of za'atar and add spinach, stirring till wilted.

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  3. Boil salted water for pasta. While water is coming up to boil, cut fish into 1 inch pieces, and put fish and seasoning into tomato sauce. Stir so that fish pieces are completely covered. Stir in chopped kalamata olives and red pepper flakes (or aleppo pepper).

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  4. Cook the pasta to just al dente. Drain pasta, reserving about 1/4 cup of pasta water in case you need it for the sauce (I didn't.). Stir pasta into sauce, taking care to leave fish in rather large chunks. Taste and adjust seasoning. You may want to add salt and pepper or more za'atar seasoning.

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  5. To serve, spoon pasta with sauce onto plate and sprinkle with chopped parsley, lemon zest and sesame seeds.

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8 Comments on Za'atar Spiced Fish Pasta with Spinach

Sunflower_profile Reply

Not wanting to make a trip to the store today, I literally typed: fish, spinach, pasta into Foodily.com and this came up! I have some frozen mahi mahi filets, and I just made some za'atar for another dish. I may sprinkle some feta cheese over it too and use that up. Thanks for the tasty, healthy, recipe - and avoiding a trip to the store!

Wedding_pictures_162 Reply

Foodily.com? How cool! I hope you enjoy it--thanks so much for letting me know!

Reply

A great combination and a very easy recipe. I had almost everything in stock except all the za'atar ingredients. So I substituted Penzy Spices's Tuscan Sunset mix, which turned out great. I used tilapia, which cooked up quickly. We liked the chunks of fish idea. Didn't have white wine, so substituted 1/4 cup cooking sherry and 3/4 cup water -- turned out fine. The chopped parsley, lemon zest and sesame seeds at the end are a fabulous way to plate this up -- don't forget them! Thanks for the recipe!

Wedding_pictures_162 Reply

Thanks for commenting! I'm so glad you liked it. Za'atar is my new favorite seasoning, but I bet the Tuscan Sunset blend was really good, too!

New_years_kitchen_hlc_only Reply

This looks sensational. Definitely on the must-try, no, the "make this ASAP" list. Stay tuned. . . . ;o)

Dsc_0382 Reply

A great idea!

Shamrock-medal Reply

Looks great, drbabs!

Wedding_pictures_162 Reply

Thanks--I'm a za'atar fanatic now!

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Eugenia is the author of the book Well-Preserved and writes about homemade food preservation for the Denver Post's Well-Preserved blog.

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