Seafood Pasta Recipe

Seafood Pasta – (full version)

Seafood pasta – (short version)

This one is a show stopper and an excellent example of sourcing great local ingredients.  If I invite friends and family over for dinner this dish is always their first choice and it’s a great way to get myself out of trouble if my wife is mad at me.

Let’s start with the foundation of the dish.  I like the Linguine with Clams recipe from the Striped Spatula with Amanda Biddle food blog.  I change a few things but it’s a great place to start.

Linguine with clams (used Pappardelle this time) – the foundation for my dish and a delicious “budget” version   

With this recipe as my base, I add additional seafood that includes scallops, jumbo shrimp, clams, mussels, and squid.  You can pretty much throw in anything you want that swims.  

NamiChef tip:  Include canned clams.  I haven’t seen this in other recipes but unless you have some extra clam juice, you’ll need canned clams for the additional liquid.

NamiChef tip 2:  I take the shrimp shells and throw them in the hot oil.  This is my attempt to infuse the oil with shrimp flavor through the shells.  WARNING!!! Be careful, the shrimp shells can cause the oil to splatter when you cook them.

Once the shells are pink, I take them out of the oil and then I throw in the shrimp and scallops to get a nice sear.  You don’t have to do this, you can poach them in the liquid but I think the flavor of the seared seafood adds more depth.

Once the shrimps and scallops are seared I take them out and build the dish.

As mentioned, I bought my ingredients at several different locations in my area.  For the pasta, my wife’s favorite is fresh squid ink pasta which I buy at Raffeto’s, a local pasta store in Greenwich Village:  

https://raffettospasta.com/

I also bought my shrimp and mussels at Eataly.  It’s expensive but the ingredients are really top quality and exploring the store itself is a treat (I also bought a porchetta sandwich for lunch).

I bought my scallops and clams and squid from the Union Square Greenmarket.  The purveyor is American Pride Seafood out of Suffolk County, New York.  I also bought my parsley from one of the vegetable farmers:  S & SO Produce Farms out of Goshen, NY

Union Square Greenmarket

I purchased the canned clams from Citarella and the lemons come from a fruit/vegetable stand outside of Trader Joe’s on the corner of Third Avenue and 14th Street.  We try to buy as much as possible from this gentleman because it’s good quality and cheaper than Trader Joe’s.

Here’s the recipe for 2 but it can easily feed 3 or 4 as a pasta course:

• One pound of fresh squid ink pasta
• 6 big scallops (I asked the fishmonger for big ones)
• 4 jumbo shrimp
• 6 little neck clams
• 6 mussels
• 1 cleaned squid body
• ¾ cup of chopped parsley
• As much garlic as you can take
• As much red pepper flake as you can take
• 1 can chopped clams – this is a key ingredient because it’s a source of extra clam juice that really helps the dish
• ¾ cup of white wine (use the cheap stuff as long as it’s dry)
• 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• (Optional) 2 tablespoons of butter at the end

Seafood with squid ink pasta

As I did with my Paella recipe, I cook the seafood first and then I take it out to prevent over-cooking.  I add the squid and the chopped clams at the very end.

This is a great example of making restaurant-quality food at home.  The only difference is the price.  The full version is half the price of the same dish at a restaurant and I guarantee my seafood is as good or better than any restaurant and the portion is huge.

If you make the budget version of this dish the cost is around $3.00 / person.

Please try this at home and let us know how it goes, feel free to share any tips with Namichef, and always remember:  You are already one of the best chefs that you know.