How to Cook Seafood Pasta

Serves: 2

Preparation time: 30 mins

Cooking time: 25 mins

Ingredients needed to make Seafood Pasta:

For the pasta:

• 7 oz fresh linguine

For the sauce:

• Handful of raw tiger prawns, peeled, deveined and heads removed
• Handful of fresh mussels, scrubbed and bearded
• 1 medium squid, rinsed and sliced into rings
• 1 banana shallot, finely chopped
• 7 oz cherry tomatoes
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• Juice of half a lime
• 3 tbsp crème fraiche
• 2 tbsp vermouth
• Several fresh basil leaves, shredded
• Small handful tarragon leaves, shredded
• 1 tsp dried chilli flakes
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cooking instructions for Seafood Pasta:

• To make the pasta, dissolve salt in a large pan of water and bring it to a boil.
• Drop the linguine into it and cook according to the package instructions until al dente; drain and set aside while reserving some of the cooking salted water for future use; keep the pasta warm.
• To cook the sauce, drizzle oil in a large saucepan and heat it over moderate flame.
• Throw in the garlic and saute briskly before adding the shallots.
• Continue to stir fry the mixture for a couple of minutes, until the onions soften and raw smell of the mixture disappears.
• Add the cherry tomatoes to it and sprinkle the dried chilli flakes on top.
• Add a splash of vermouth and stir them well together until properly blended.
• Increase the heat to high and bring the mixture to a boil.
• Continue to do so for about 4-5 minutes and drop in the mussels.
• Place a lid on top and cook for a couple of minutes before stirring in the squid rings as well as prawns.
• Bathe them with the hot sauce and continue to cook for a couple of minutes or until the flesh of the prawns turn opaque and the mussels snaps open; throw away those mussels which remains closed at this point.
• Whisk in the crème fraiche and add the pasta over the mixture.
• Toss well to distribute the contents of the sauce evenly throughout the mixture and pour in the reserved pasta cooking liquid.
• Bring the mixture to boil and continue to cook until the liquid thickens.
• Adjust the seasonings and sprinkle the tarragon leaves over them; stir them well together to mix and remove from heat.
• Spoon the mixture into serving bowls and add a splash of lime juice over them.
• Top it up with shredded basil leaves and serve.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons