Spaghetti alla pescatora
Alla pescatora, seafood with tomatoes: just irresistible.
Spaghetti alla pescatora, sometimes called alla marinara, is one of my favorites pasta sauces of all time. The simple idea of a flavorful mix of fresh seafood and tomatoes makes me always really tempted to cook this recipe or order the dish in a local Italian restaurant.
This sauce is a typical combination Neapolitan cuisine - greatly influenced by the Campania, it is a balance of rural ingredients (such as vegetables, pastas and cheese) and seafood.
For this recipe, I used white fish, whole shrimps and clams as the main ingredients. To give a special extra kick to this sauce, infuse the olive oil with the fish bones, the clams and the shrimps’ shells and heads by frying them on a pan. This way you can transfer all the flavors hidden in these ingredients to the tomato sauce!
Recipe
200g of medium-width spaghetti
50g of white fish, cut in large cubes.
The fishbones from the white fish above.
1 cup of white wine.
4 large shrimps, deveined.
Shrimp heads and shells.
25g of clams
2 garlic cloves, cut in slices
Canned tomatoes.
2tbsp of olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Sugar
Steps
Season the shrimp and the white fish with salt and pepper.
Remove the shrimp's horn from the head with a knife.
Using a frying pan or skillet, sear the white fish and the shrimp in olive oil on high heat. Reserve the mixture.
Reduce the heat to medium low. Add the the shrimp head and the fish bones. Mix occasionally to avoid burning.
Around 5 minutes later, discard the head and bones.
Bring the fire back to medium, add the garlic and fry it until it become lightly golden. Add more olive oil if necessary.
Add the clams and the white wine. Let the alcohol evaporate.
Add the tomatoes, stirring to form the sauce. Adjust the seasoning with salt, sugar, pepper and more olive oil.
Cook the pasta to al dente. Reserve around two tbsp of cooking water from the pot. Drain and set it aside.
Add the sauce, the white fish and some of the cooking water to the pasta, then stir to combine.
Garnish the dish with the shrimps.
Serve it with grated Parmesan cheese.
Tips
Regarding the clams, leave them to rest in salted water to remove the dirt. If using mussels instead, don't forget to scrap the shell surface with steel wool to remove any traces of dirt as well.
Make shallow cuts in the shrimps to avoid them from curling when frying.
