Recipes
← All recipes

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.