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Marseille-Style Seafood Pasta

Prep 40m Cook 15m Total 55m hard
pastaseafoodshrimpscallopsquidfrench

Method

  1. 1
    Peel the shrimp, reserving the shells. Halve the peeled shrimp crosswise. Set shrimp aside cold.
    Uses: shell-on large shrimp
  2. 2
    Roast the shrimp shells in a thin film of olive oil until bright pink and deeply fragrant. 6m
  3. 3
    Add the saffron threads to the shells and toast briefly, then add the water, simmer, and strain to yield the court bouillon. Keep hot. 20m
    Uses: saffron threads, water
  4. 4
    Slice the squid tubes into 1/2-inch rings; halve large tentacles. Mince the garlic, chop the parsley.
    Uses: cleaned squid, garlic, fresh flat-leaf parsley
  5. 5
    Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in the main pan, add the tomato paste, and caramelize until it darkens. 3m
    Uses: olive oil, tomato paste
  6. 6
    Bloom the garlic 30 seconds, then deglaze with the pastis and reduce to a syrup. 4m
    Uses: pastis
  7. 7
    Add 3-4 cups hot court bouillon, bring to a rolling boil, and salt the liquid. Add the pasta and cook — stirring constantly — three minutes less than the box directions. 8m
    Uses: spaghetti
  8. 8
    In the second pan, melt the butter and sear the scallops 90 seconds per side. Deglaze with the white wine and reduce one minute. Remove the scallops; reserve the reduction. 4m
    Uses: unsalted butter, large sea scallops, dry white wine
  9. 9
    Add the peeled shrimp and squid tubes to the pasta pan. Quick-sear the tentacles in the scallop pan for 30 seconds and add them to the pasta. 2m
  10. 10
    Fold the scallop-wine reduction into the pasta, pull from heat, and rest one minute. 1m
  11. 11
    Fold in the parsley and lemon juice. Divide among four warm bowls and crown each with 3–4 scallops. Serve immediately.
    Uses: fresh lemon juice

The whole point of this dish is the court bouillon: shrimp-shell stock with saffron, reduced with caramelized tomato paste and pastis into a brick-red, briny base that the pasta finishes cooking in. Boxed stock will not get you there — the roasted shells and the 20-minute simmer do real work.

Undercook the pasta by three minutes. It finishes in the sauce, drinking up the bouillon. Stir constantly once it goes in or it mats.

Two pans, always. The scallops want a hot dry butter pan; the pasta wants a wet aromatic pan. Trying to do both in one vessel gives you wet scallops and gummy pasta.

Get the oil smoking on the tomato paste. Caramelizing the paste before any liquid hits the pan is what turns it from raw and metallic to deep and jammy.