Seafood spaghetti is my absolute favourite meal of all time, it is the first thing I look for on a menu when I go out to eat! This recipe not only looks extremely impressive but is also surprisingly affordable. I went to the Morrisons fish counter and bought a whole kilo of fresh mussels for just £4 - that's enough to serve five people! You could also substitute the more expensive jumbo prawns for a pack of frozen raw prawns (which only cost around £3 for 200g).
Serve with a cold glass of rosé and pretend you are on holiday!
You Will Need: (Serves 5)
- Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
- 1 banana shallot
- 5 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1/4 teaspoon red chilli flakes
- 3 tablespoons tomato puree
- 1 glass of white wine
- 1 can chopped tomatoes
- salt and pepper
- 1 kilogram fresh mussels (I got mine from the Morrisons fish counter for a very affordable price)
- 300g prawns (I used 2 packs of Morrisons cooked jumbo king prawns)
- 400g fresh spaghetti (you could use dried pasta but fresh pasta makes this dish SO much better!)
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 1 bunch of fresh parsley
- Juice of half a lemon
Method:
- First prepare the mussels. Remove from packaging, pour into a bowl of cold water and leave to soak for around 20 minutes.
- To make the sauce, finely chop the shallot and garlic.
- Add olive oil to a pan and warm on a medium heat. Then add the shallot, garlic and chilli flakes and soften for 5 minutes.
- Stir in the tomato puree and cook for a further 2 minutes.
- Next pour in the wine and reduce for a minute.
- Add in your chopped tomatoes and salt and pepper. At this point taste the sauce and add a couple of pinches of sugar if the tomatoes are sour.
- Place a lid on the pan and cook the sauce on a low heat for about 20 minutes.
- Now add the spaghetti to well salted boiling water and cook according to packet instructions - fresh pasta usually takes around 5 minutes.
- Whilst the pasta is boiling, drain the mussels and add to the sauce, put the lid on and cook for 5-7 minutes on a low heat.
- Remove the lid from the pan and check that all mussels have opened, discard any that are still shut (they should not be eaten!)
- Remove the mussels from the sauce and set aside, then add the pasta into the sauce, along with a ladle of pasta water and boil on a high heat to reduce and thicken until the sauce 'clings' to the pasta.
- Once the sauce is reduced, add the butter, chopped parsley and squeeze of lemon juice into the pan.
- Return the mussels to the pan and add the cooked prawns and stir to heat through.
- Sprinkle with more parsley and lemon to garnish and serve immediately.
- Enjoy!
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