Food faves - Linguine ai frutti di mare

Sometimes there's nothing I love more than a big bowl of pasta. I know gastronomically it's not very exciting, and I'm perfectly aware that Italian cuisine has so much more to offer, but sometimes this is all I need.   Linguine ai frutti di mare, or in Layman's terms seafood pasta, is my favourite of them all.  A gigantic bowl of this with a rocket salad, a few slices of garlic bread and a large glass of wine spells perfection for me.  Easily in my top five favourite foods.   

I'd love to tell you that I first discovered this dish while summering in Naples, in a small family restaurant down a cobbled backstreet somewhere, and the old lady who owned it told me how the recipe had been passed down through generations and the seafood had been caught locally that day by her nephew.  

I probably discovered it when I was eight in a caff on Taff street in Pontypridd, made using frozen mixed seafood from Makro (a glorified cash and carry for those of who aren't fortunate enough to have visited the Trefforest branch) and cheapo spaghetti, as a change from my usual ham, egg and chips.  When I was younger I always wanted the most exotic and most expensive thing on the menu  - and still do probably -  and whenever I went to an Italian restaurant this was always what I chose.  

Nowadays I like to think I'm a bit more discerning about where the seafood I eat comes from, as a lover of all things fresh and local, so I don't eat it all the time.  I adore seafood. If I lived near the sea I'd probably eat it all day everyday, and would probably turn into a giant clam.

Ahem, anyway...here's my take on linguine ai frutti di mare:

I am terrible at recipes, so I'm going to do this Elizabeth David style.  For two people, add enough linguine to a large saucepan of salted (and I mean salted) boiling water.  Meanwhile, put a couple of handfuls of scrubbed clams and muscles into a saucepan, add a glass of white wine, cover, and cook on a high heat for 3-4 minutes until they have opened, then set aside. In a frying pan, throw in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil (not extra virgin) and heat, then a chopped clove of garlic and a chopped red chilli to the pan.  Add two tablespoons of tomato puree and stir for a couple of minutes, then add the cooking liquor from the mussels and clams.  Bring to the boil and then simmer for a few minutes until reduced.  Add a handful of large uncooked prawns and some cherry tomatoes chopped in half and cook for a couple of minutes, until cooked through.  Then add the mussels and clams, and bunch of chopped parsley, and stir through.  Season with salt and pepper - I always like a lot of cracked black pepper in this dish.  Toss the seafood with the drained pasta - sometimes I add some of the pasta water if the sauce is looking a little dry.  Sprinkle on some shavings of parmesan cheese, serve with a salad, garlic bread and a glass of wine and yum yum yum.