Seafood Pasta Recipe (Greek seafood pasta actually!)
My seafood pasta recipe is simple, elegant and damn tasty and more to the point it is cooked in 10 minutes flat! I prefer to make this as a seafood linguine but any pasta will work.
I’ve slightly Greek-ified this particular recipe with the addition of a splash of Ouzo to the dish. No, not just because I thought I could call it Greek, but the Ouzo compliments the seafood incredibly well.
Fennel has long been a partner in crime to seafood, that slight aniseed flavour that brings a freshness to most seafood dishes and is the exact subtle flavour you get with a splash of Ouzo.
This seafood pasta recipe is incredibly versatile as either a quick, healthy midweek supper or you can invest a bit more in the seafood and turn this into a seafood linguine fit for any decadent dinner party.
Check out my other seafood recipes…
The thing I love most about a good seafood pasta is plenty of seafood and enough pasta to soak up all the flavours and juices of the dish.
When you start to follow this seafood pasta recipe you’ll think two things immediately:
- there is a lot of olive oil
- there is a lot of garlic
You will be right on both counts, however, the olive oil will emulsify with the rest of the juices to create a delicious sauce and the garlic will melt away to leave a subtle depth of flavour that will blow your tastebuds away.
Watch my video recipe of making seafood pasta – in 10 minutes.
As mentioned earlier this is a very versatile recipe. If I’m making this during the week I’ll grab one of those mixed shellfish packets and throw that into the dish. If I’m having people round (or trying to impress my wife!) I’ll upgrade the shellfish to the ones listed below to add a touch of luxury to the dish.
Want more pasta and rice recipes?
Anyway, enough me banging on about how good my seafood linguine recipe is, here you go!
Seafood Pasta Recipe – Ingredients:
(serves 2)
1/4 Cup of extra virgin olive oil
50ml ouzo
Decent splash of white wine
Dozen king prawns raw
* Half a dozen clams or mussels (washed and cleaned)
4 Scallops cut in half (horizontally)
8 Baby plum tomatoes cut lengthways in half
6 cloves garlic sliced
1 red chilli chopped (remove seeds for less heat!)
Small handful fresh parsely roughly chopped
Dried Linguine for 2 people
* Note: clams or mussels need to be cooked ‘alive’ (unless bought pre-cooked). Before cooking discard any that do not close after you have rinsed them or tapped them together. Once cooked if any have not opened discard and do not eat.In summary – before cooking they should close, after cooking they should open. Any that break those rules are expelled!
Seafood Pasta Recipe – Method:
- Cook Pasta to instructions until al dente (you want to turn off the pasta just before it is ready) – while it is cooking…
- Add enough olive oil to cover the base of the frying pan and set to low heat, throw in the garlic (seems like a lot but trust me)!
- Let the garlic simmer for a few minutes to cook through (but don’t let the garlic start to turn golden).
- Add the seafood and fry for 30 seconds before adding the chopped tomatoes, splash of wine and ouzo and season well.
- Turn up the heat and cook for a few minutes to reduce and emulsify the sauce and until the shellfish have opened (if not using clams or mussels, just simmer for a couple of minutes – the scallops and prawns will take just a few minutes to cook through). Add most of the chopped chilli (saving a pinch for garnish).
- By now the pasta should be just about ready (you want it quite al-dente), pick out the pasta straight from the pot and drop into the frying pan with the seafood (no need to drain as you want a bit of the water in the pan), lower the heat and let the pasta cook for a minute longer in the juices and then turn off the heat.
- It should start to soak up the sauce leaving a nice shine all over the pasta (you don’t want a sloppy dish!)
- Put into two bowls, season, add a tiny drizzle of olive oil and just a tiny sprinkle of parsley and the left over chilli and any seafood left in the pan.
