Seafood Pasta | Everyday Dorie

The seafood pasta has a similar vibe to the holiday fish soup in the same section of Dorie’s book Everyday Dorie. Just substitute pasta in stead of a broth and a variety of vegetables as in the soup. The building blocks in the seafood pasta are butter, white wine, tomatoes and herbs. Obviously, the seafood are the star ingredients. Here I include: shrimps, fish fillets (cod) and green mussels. Similar to the holiday fish soup, the pasta dish can be scaled up or down depending on how many people you’re serving for dinner.

Start with making the sauce which may take some time to do. However, it’s a step you can do ahead of time, making the dish advantageous for parties. Notably, time spent in developing the flavor in the sauce makes or breaks the whole seafood pasta ensemble. It’s not a step to rush.

First, sweat the onion and garlic, then add the wine, a can of crushed tomatoes, herb sprigs and clam juice. I skip the squid, as Dorie uses in the recipe, and opt for anchovy instead. Dorie calls the squid “the big-bang choice” for flavor development. There is no doubt in my mind that anchovy fits the bill. Bring the tomato sauce mixture to a simmer and let it bubble away merrily with a few stirs from time to time. That takes about an hour.

Cook the pasta. Drop the seafood ingredients into the sauce together with the pepper flakes, which is how it’s done in Portugal. Let them cook briefly. Turn the pasta out in a serving bowl and stir the sauce into it. For finishing, add the butter, lemon zest and juice with chopped herbs. Taste for salt and pepper flakes. Seafood pasta is good to go for the holidays or other special occasions.