Every so often on Sunday evenings, Husband M likes to do the cooking for the night.  I sometimes get a little nervous about the idea as I don’t like to give up control of my kitchen (and his methods are a bit more messy than mine!)   A week or so after Baby T was born, he decided to re-create one of his favorite restaurant meals, Linguine Frutti di Mare.  It’s basically pasta with seafood.  Husband M prefers his with a lot of garlic (he uses a whole head of garlic) and a lot of seafood (no skimping here.)  He decided to make this dish again last night for dinner and took pictures this time.

Linguine Fruitti di Mare

Ingredients:
-Jar of vodka marinara sauce or make your own (see below for our “half-homemade” version)
-12 oz. fresh linguine (you can also used dried pasta if you can’t find fresh)
-5-6 cloves of garlic, minced
-1 small sweet onion, chopped
-8 oz of clams (chopped or whole)
-1/4-1/2 lb scallops
-1/4-1/2 lb calamari, chopped into bite size pieces
-12 large peeled and deveined shrimp

No skimping on seafood or garlic in this house!

Directions
Prepare or heat up the vodka marinara sauce in a saucepan and keep on low heat.

Prepare the fresh pasta according to the package directions.  Keep in mind that fresh pasta usually only needs 2-3 minutes of cooking time.  Drain and keep warm

In a large skillet, heat up the olive oil on medium high heat and add the garlic and onion.  Saute for 3-4 minutes until soft.  Meanwhile, have all your seafood prepared (peel and devein shrimp, drain clams if using a jar/can, etc).  Pat dry the seafood with a couple of paper towels.  Once garlic and onions are soft, throw in all the seafood into the skillet and stir to combine.  Cook the seafood mixture for 4-5 minutes until all ingredients are cooked to your desired level.

At this point, place the cooked pasta in a large serving bowl.  Add the seafood mixture and heated vodka marinara sauce.  Combine all ingredients and serve loudly singing an Italian song about how you just created the best pasta dish around.

Also, if you want to spruce up just a plain jar of marinara sauce, here is our  partially homemade version of vodka marinara sauce:

“Half Homemade” Vodka Marinara Sauce

Ingredients:
-25 oz jar of marinara sauce
-3/4 cup of vodka
-1/2 cup heavy cream (room temperature)
-salt and pepper
-1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Directions:
In a large saucepan, combine the marinara sauce and vodka.  Cook over low heat for 30 minutes, stirring every so often.  Once the sauce has been slightly reduced, add cream, salt, pepper, and parmesan.  Stir together and serve.

-m