Seafood Pasta

Pasta always makes a tasty family meal but sometimes one gets fed up with tomato or meat based meals and would like another pasta recipe. Seafood pasta is a pleasant change and the recipe can be adapted in many ways.

Pasta

The family version of this recipe is prepared using pasta shapes rather than the longer spaghetti forms of pasta and does not contain alcohol as it is designed for children to enjoy.

Try some of the coloured pasta shapes so that the food looks colourful when served.

What Type of Fish?

Any form of fish can be used in this recipe. Smoked fish will add an extra flavour to the meal. Try adding a small piece of smoked haddock or cod to the other fish used in the recipe.

Seafood

For an economical meal use a packet of crabsticks, children love them and they have a very good flavour for this type of dish. It is possible to purchase trays of assorted seafood in most supermarkets that includes squid, cockles and mussels. These trays give a good assortment of seafood that makes a cheap pasta meal look expensive and very interesting but make sure that the seafood is not mixed with vinegar.

Choosing a Sauce

If you are pressed for time use a ready-made sauce that is found in the chill cabinets in any supermarket. The choice is purely what your family enjoys eating as most types of pasta sauce work well with seafood from a simple tomato to a cheese based or white sauce.

Vegetables

As this meal cooks in next to no time it is probably best not to add vegetables to the seafood pasta recipe apart from a few button mushrooms. Serve the meal with a selection of steamed vegetables such as broccoli, carrots and peas to brighten the served dish if a white sauce is used.

Family Seafood Pasta

This recipe serves four.

Ingredients

• 400 g dried pasta shapes
• 300 g mixed fish or seafood
• One small onion or shallot, chopped finely
• One clove of garlic, crushed
• One tablespoon of butter
• 250 ml stock made with either a chicken or fish stock cube
• One 200 ml pot of single cream
• A pinch of turmeric or saffron
• A pinch of mixed herbs
• 150 g button mushrooms
• Salt and black pepper to season

To Prepare

Cook the dried pasta as instructed on the packet at the same time as the following.

Heat the butter in a large heavy based pan. Add the onion and garlic and cook until the onion is clear. Add the seafood and cook for five minutes.

If using smoked cod or haddock cut this into bite sized pieces and take care that it does not break up in the pan.

Add the turmeric or saffron, herbs, mushrooms and stock and simmer for five minutes. Then add the cream and cook until the sauce has reduced and thickened. Drain the pasta and stir it through the fish sauce mix.

Serve either with steamed vegetables or crusty bread.

If making this recipe for adults replace the stock with white wine or a mixture of both.

Note: If using mussels in their shells make sure that all the shells open when they are cooked, if not remove them from the recipe and do not attempt to force open the shells.