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Chef Naeem’s Kitchen

Chef Naeem's Seafood Pasta

The difference between home seafood pasta and the version served in a good Italian kitchen is one step: finishing the pasta in the pan with a ladle of its own starchy water, so the sauce clings instead of pooling.

4.9 · 143 reviews

Our most-shared family recipe · Sample ratings until customer reviews are collected

Jump to ingredients
Seafood linguine with prawns, mussels and calamari in a light tomato sauce with basil
Preparation
15 min
Cooking
20 min
Servings
4 people
Difficulty
Medium

The story behind the dish

Naeem built this dish for family Sunday lunches, using whatever the harbour had that morning. It is the most flexible recipe in his kitchen — prawns, mussels, calamari, line fish trimmings, all welcome, all added in the order they cook.

Ingredients

  • 400 g queen prawns, peeledShop this
  • 500 g black mussels, scrubbedShop this
  • 300 g cleaned calamari, slicedShop this
  • 400 g dried linguine
  • 200 ml dry white wine
  • 400 g chopped tomatoes
  • 4 garlic cloves, sliced
  • 1 red chilli, sliced
  • 60 ml olive oil
  • A handful of fresh basil and parsley

Equipment required

  • Large pot for pasta
  • Wide deep frying pan
  • Tongs
  • Ladle

Step-by-step method

  1. 1

    Start the pasta

    Bring a large pot of well-salted water to the boil and cook the linguine two minutes short of the packet time. Reserve a mug of the cooking water before draining.

  2. 2

    Open the mussels

    In the wide pan, bring the wine to a boil, add the mussels, cover and steam for four minutes until open. Lift them out and strain the liquor into a jug.

  3. 3

    Build the base

    Wipe the pan, warm the olive oil and cook the garlic and chilli for a minute. Add the tomatoes and the reserved mussel liquor and simmer for eight minutes.

  4. 4

    Cook the shellfish

    Add the calamari and simmer for 90 seconds, then the prawns for a further two minutes until just pink. Return the mussels.

  5. 5

    Finish in the pan

    Tip in the drained linguine with a ladle of pasta water and toss vigorously over high heat for two minutes until the sauce thickens and coats every strand.

  6. 6

    Serve

    Fold through the basil and parsley off the heat, drizzle with olive oil and serve straight from the pan. No cheese with seafood.

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Chef’s tips

  • Never discard the mussel liquor — it is the most concentrated seafood stock you will ever have.
  • Undercook the pasta by two minutes; it finishes in the sauce and absorbs the flavour as it does.
  • Add shellfish by cooking time: calamari, then prawns, then the already-cooked mussels last.

Storage advice

Seafood pasta does not reheat well. Cook what you will eat, and use leftover sauce as a base for a fish soup the next day.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use frozen seafood?
Yes. Thaw everything overnight in the fridge and drain thoroughly, otherwise the extra water will thin your sauce.
Which pasta shape is best?
Linguine or spaghetti. Long strands carry a light seafood sauce far better than short shapes.
Why no parmesan?
Italian convention, and good sense — cheese flattens the delicate sweetness of shellfish.

Nutritional information

Estimated values per serving. Actual values vary with portion size and ingredients.

Energy
620 kcal
Protein
45 g
Fat
18 g
Carbohydrate
68 g
Sodium
860 mg

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