Phil came up with this recipe about a year ago, and it quickly became a favorite of ours. The idea is to go to the store and get three kinds of seafood, whatever looks best. Add to that one vegetable: we usually alternate between broccoli, broccolini (love the stuff!) and asparagus. Lately we’ve been adding fresh shiitake mushrooms too. This is a very healthy yet substantial meal, in which the pasta is a minor component to give us just the carbs we need.
SEAFOOD EXTRAVAGANZA PASTA
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)
Pick three of the following options:
Sea scallops
Large shrimp
Salmon filets
Lobster tails
Ahi tuna filets
Choose one of these veggies:
Broccoli
Broccolini
Asparagus
Fresh shiitake mushrooms, caps only
Pasta (corkscrew, farfalle, fusilli)
A couple of lemons, juice and zest
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
1 Tbsp vermouth
Thyme
salt and pepper
Add the 1/4 cup olive oil to a small bowl, squeeze the juice of 1 lemon, season with salt and pepper, and add the thyme. Whisk well to form an emulsion. Use that to brush the seafood you intend to grill.
Slice the mushroom caps very thin, cut the broccoli in florets, if using asparagus or broccolini cut them in 1 inch pieces. Saute’ the mushrooms in 1 Tbsp olive oil, when they are almost tender season with salt and pepper and add the vermouth and lemon zest. Cover and cook for a couple of minutes. Keep warm. Cook the veggies either in a little salted water or by steaming. If using broccoli, shock them in cold water to keep the bright green color. Reserve.
Start grilling the seafood (salmon, lobster tail, or ahi tuna). Sautee the shrimp and scallops on 1 Tbsp olive oil, seasoning with salt and pepper. Make sure not to over-cook the scallops and saute’ them in extra-high heat to sear the surface. Cook the pasta to have it ready once all the rest of the food is done. Reserve some of the pasta water in case you need it.
Once the pasta is done, drain it, put it back in the pan, add the mushrooms and broccoli, mix well. If needed, add a little of the pasta water. Transfer to a serving bowl, and add all the seafood on top, cutting the salmon (and lobster tails, if using) in large chunks. Keep the scallops and shrimp whole. A squeeze of lemon juice all over the serving bowl is a nice final touch.
ENJOY!
to print the recipe, click here
(click to enlarge)
Comments: I won’t sugar-coat the pill, this dish requires some effort so that all ingredients are ready at the same time for the final assembly. We always like to cook salmon and lobster tail on the grill, whereas the scallops and shrimp are sautéed on the stove. Same for veggies and mushrooms. You get the picture. It is much easier if you and your partner (or friend, parent, sibling, room-mate, neighbor) cook this together. However, usually Superman Phil is adamant about doing it all by himself. I am left watching him dash through the kitchen to the grill and back, spatula in hand, kitchen towel hanging from one shoulder, pasta water furiously boiling, and the dogs hoping that with all that activity some stuff might follow the Law of Gravity all the way to the kitchen floor. Sometimes, it does happen… But, once all is said and done, we are rewarded with a great dinner! See my plate? I go heavy on the scallops. I am not ashamed and will fight for the biggest, juiciest ones. 😉
The pasta plays a completely secondary role. This is a dish centered on seafood and supported by a nice helping of broccoli. Squeeze some more lemon juice right before indulging… And, if that was not enough seafood for a meal, I’ll tell you what we love to have as appetizer before this dinner. All of a sudden, Wednesday evening feels like a party! 😉
Heaven. Pure heaven.
ONE YEAR AGO: A Pearfect Drink
TWO YEARS AGO: Ming Tsai Under Pressure
THREE YEARS AGO: Paris, Je t’aime
Bewitching Kitchen 
It’s 1am and I’m salivating at this gorgeous seafood platter though I would give the raw oysters a miss. Phil is a kitchen ‘divo’ in the best sense of the word … godlike in his abilities to put a meal like this together.
All I can say is, what’s for dessert? 🙂
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Not everyone loves oysters, I admit… but we are absolutely crazy for them, and here in The LIttle Apple we are lucky in that one of the stores orders them regularly. We befriended the seafood person and let’s say she always tells us when a particularly special batch is arriving… I don’t think we’ve had oysters as often as we do now…
As to dessert, it’s something we do exclusively at dinner parties. We usually share an apple late at night watching TV. Boring couple, yeah? 😉
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You guys sounds pretty fun to me. Any foodies are my friends.
I think it’s a textural issue for me with raw oysters. A friend made an oyster soup once with canned oysters that made me gag so that didn’t help with encouraging me to try the raw ones. Maybe someday. It took me until last year to be willing to try capers. Olives are still a no go though.
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Hard to overcome a bad experience like that… I don’t care for cooked oysters, I can have them, but the fresh ones are a completely different thing, fresh, delicious (to me).
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Luckily there are a lot of types of seafood that I DO enjoy so I don’t have too many regrets about the oysters. I picked up a live hairy crab on Tuesday, cooked and picked it when I got home and on Wed made a poor man’s version of your extravaganza over fettucine. 🙂
Turned out amazing.
http://a-boleyn.livejournal.com/tag/crab
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Damn. Now I want oysters. A dozen please, straight up. Followed by a platter of your seafood extravaganza, preferably with scallops and lobster tail. You guys really know how to live, Sally! xx
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I guess we’ve been living long enough that we had to learn to do it well… 🙂 Agree with you, straight up, just a squeeze of lemon juice. I pass on the cocktail sauce…
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Should not have read this just before dinner which won’t be anywhere as exciting as this! I’ll join Celia in wanting oysters too! Like now!! Love your seafood dish: don’t think the multitasking too tough for even a single cook and just look at the delicious result! I oft have pasta in just the same way: as a kind’of ‘side’ to satisfy 🙂 ! And you have mentioned my three favourite vegetables!!
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Those veggies are our favorite too! Broccolini in particular has been at our table quite often, so delicious!
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Oh, how I’d love this dish, Sally! Phil gets a gold star for this one. Grilling the seafood, though labor intensive, must bring a ton of flavor to the final dish. Very nicely done!
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Why do you think I married him? 🙂
I love when he announces that we are having the “seafood extravaganza” for dinner. I start salivating right away, although doing the dishes after can be a little labor intensive 😉 Labor of love, though… labor of love…
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I love making pasta like this! Mostly other stuff…and some pasta on the side 😛
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I also prefer my pasta not to be swimming in a pool of sauce. Sometimes it has to be about the pasta. 😉 But for the most part, we like to use the pasta as the supporting actress….
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That looks delightful, Sally, and I’ll be happy to take any unwanted oysters. They’ve been a favorite since I was a child. 😉 You’re fortunate to have an excellent fish person in The Little Apple, and you and Phil both do a really splendid job with your meals, especially considering your busy schedule. Good for you both! 😉
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Everybody has to eat, no matter how busy 😉 The fact that we alternate cooking helps a ton. We often just have a grilled salmon or steak, sometimes get a rotisserie chicken at the store, which some people consider a capital sin.
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Wow, wow, wow. I want it all.
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Great meal indeed! The oysters are a must too
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I’ll celebrate any day with a seafood extravaganza like this. Wow – and Yum!
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Lobster tail makes it pretty spectacular too – a little extra work to grill them and get the meat out of the shell, but totally worth it. I wonder if crawfish could work… I am a bit intimidated about cooking them myself, though.
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