Seafood Linguine al Cartoccio (in foil)
A fabulous Central-Southern Italian seafood pasta recipe that is not only outstandingly delicious but will impress your guests no end!
Servings: 4
Calories: 600kcal
Ingredients
- 320 g linguine (12oz) or spaghetti
- 250 g fresh mussels (9oz)
- 250 g fresh clams (9oz)
- 200 g fresh shrimps or prawns (7oz)
- 200 g small squid (7oz)
- 8 fresh scampi (2 per person)
- 300 g tomato pulp (10 oz) or peeled sauce tomatoes
- 3 garlic cloves peeled and finely chopped
- 2 shallots peeled and finely chopped
- 1 handful fresh parsley finely chopped
- ½ glass brandy or white wine
- salt to taste
- 3-4 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
Prepare the seafood
- Clean the mussels well, scrub and rinse them under running water and remove the ‘beards’. Discard any that are broken or open.
- Wash the clams in cold water and remove any that are open or with broken shells. Some kinds of clams need a lot of rinsing if they have sand in them. But you can also filter the liquid after you have precooked them, so don’t worry so much about the sand.
- Clean and prepare the fresh squid. Pull the tentacles away from the body. The tentacles, head and innards should separate easily from the body. Remove the quill from inside the body and discard. Clean the body by running it under a tap or cleaning it in a bowl of water.
- Remove the 'ears' from either side of the squid body and remove the skin with your fingers. (optional we don’t do it with very small squid)
- Cut the tentacles just below the eyes, be careful not to cut the ink sac which is located near the innards. Remove the 'beak' at the base of the tentacles. Discard the head, innards and ink sac (although the latter can be used for squid ink pasta!)
- Cut the squid body into rings and the tentacles into small pieces if you want to use them.
- Wash the prawns/shrimps. Remove the head, legs and main body shells from some of them, leaving the tail. Also remove the vein along the peeled prawns’ backs. but keep some intact. They impart a better flavour and make the dish look more attractive.
- Wash the scampi. We didn’t peel them but just cut along the scampi undersides to make opening them easier.
Make the sauce
- Put the clams in a deep frying pan and cook covered over a medium to high heat until they have opened. (about 5 minutes). Do the same for the mussels separately.
- Allow the shellfish to cool a little and then remove the meat from most of the shells keeping some intact. Discard the empty shells and then filter the liquid that the clams and mussels have produced through a muslin cloth or very fine filter. Don't discard it and keep the 2 separate.
- Chop the peeled garlic, the peeled shallots and the parsley finely.
- Put a pot of water on to boil for the pasta. When it starts to boil add the pasta. You probably don’t need salt as the seafood will already be a little salty.
- Heat the olive oil and the chopped garlic cloves and shallots in a large deep pan, add the squid, scampi and prawns and cook for 5 minutes, then sprinkle with the wine/ cognac and let the alcohol evaporate. We used cognac and flambéed it! But that is optional!
- Add the tomato pulp or peeled tomatoes and cook for about 10 minutes. Add the mussels and clams (shelled and with shells) and continue cooking for 3-5 minutes. To prevent the sauce from drying out too much, add some of the previously filtered cooking juices from the clams first and then the mussels. (The clam juice tends to be more flavourful)
- Preheat the oven to 200°c (about 390°F).
- Cook the pasta less than or half the time for al dente according to the instructions on the packet. Then drain it.
- Add the drained pasta to the pan with the sauce, mix well and place a single portion of pasta and seafood on a rectangular double sheet of baking paper or aluminum foil about 50cm long. Close each packet well and bake in your preheated oven for 8-10 minutes.
- Serve your seafood linguine al cartoccio sprinkled with parsley in the individual foil packets. Of course, you could put it into a plate but half the fun is eating it out of the ‘cartoccio’. Remember to provide napkins, finger bowls and a bowl to put the shells etc.
Notes
This recipe can be made with linguine or spaghetti.
You can use a variety of seafood, depending on what is available. Even with just a shellfish and prawns this recipe is delicious!
Nutrition
Calories: 600kcal | Carbohydrates: 74g | Protein: 39g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 216mg | Sodium: 325mg | Potassium: 1008mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 564IU | Vitamin C: 16mg | Calcium: 105mg | Iron: 5mg