ISO - Light Seafood Pasta Sauce

[blazedog]

I've got the shrimp and lobster tail and before committing the $30 worth of seafood to the pan, I would love to explore some possibilities.

I love the fruite de mar pasta -- the red sauce with all kinds of fish in it -- served at Italian recipes but I am open to any tomato based sauce that makes best use of the shrimp and lobster tails.

LIGHT please :D My rationalization for the lobster tails is that they were the same price as take out sushi and would still be low cal/low fat :D

[lindrusso]

Here's one that we really enjoy. It calls for 1/4 cup of olive oil, but it's not at all necessary and can easily be reduced to whatever you are comfortable with. Depending on how much seafood you have, you may want to double the amount of sauce - we like lots of sauce and this recipe did not have enough for our tastes.

Also, we didn't put any of the seafood whole in this dish - everything was chopped and added to the sauce to make it easier to eat at the table. I can't imagine trying to wrestle with a sauce-covered lobster at the table without ending up with quite a mess. :eek: Way too much trouble! :D

One OT note - the first time my DH made this, he chopped all 1/2 cup of garlic by hand. It took him sooooooo long! I recommended our little mini-prep for the task the next time and he readily followed my recommendation! :)

Renees Seafood Fra Diavolo

1/2 cup chopped fresh garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
1 small lobster (about 1 pound) in the shell, cleaned, small claws and antennae removed
6 large shrimp, cleaned and deveined
1/4 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 small onion, chopped
5 leaves EACH fresh mint, fresh basil and fresh oregano, chopped
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon clam or chicken soup base (paste or granulated
1 cup dry white OR red wine
1 (28-ounce) can whole Italian tomatoes with basil, including juice
8 large mussels, scrubbed
6 large clams, scrubbed
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 pound thin spaghetti OR vermicelli, cooked and drained

In a 14-inch skillet, cook 1/4 cup garlic in hot oil over high heat for 2-3 minutes, being careful not to burn. Add lobster and shrimp to skillet and cook on high heat for 3-4 minutes, until lobster turns pink. Remove lobster and shrimp and set aside.

Add remaining 1/4 cup garlic, mushrooms, onion, mint, basil, oregano and red pepper. Cook over medium heat 7-9 minutes, stirring frequently. Pour mixture from skillet into blender or food processor. Add clam or chicken soup base, wine and tomatoes and puree.

Pour puree into 2-3 quart saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, adding mussels and clams when mixture begins to boil. Stir often until mussels and clams open, then add parsley. Remove clams and mussels to dish with lobster and shrimp.

Toss pasta with 2 cups of sauce and line bottom of large ovenproof serving platter with coated pasta. Place lobster in center of on top of pasta and place shrimp, mussels and clams decoratively on both sides. Pour remaining sauce over the top, being careful not to hide the shellfish. Cover with foil and place in preheated 375-degree oven for 7-10 minutes. Serve piping hot.

Alysha :)

[blazedog]

Thanks Alyssha -- This looks wonderful and 1/4 cup of oil is entirely gratuitous and easily reduced to a normal amount:)

One of my fondest childhood memories is eating Lobster Fra Diavalo when my family ventured across Brooklyn to some mysterious neighborhood where they prepared the BEST version.:D