Seafood Spaghetti with Saffron and Chilli

Seafood Spaghetti with Saffron and Chilli

This is one of my favourite meals for Sunday when we're not having a roast dinner. I made it today and realised I've never shared the recipe. 

I used king prawns, mussels and squid today and it is a little faffy the way I prepare this with the squid being fried separately, but it well worth the preparation and extra pots and pans.

You could make these with prawns or mussels that aren't in the shell, however I urge you if possible to make with the shells still in-tact, it really does add to the flavour of the sauce.

People often marvel at the 'unusual' foods that my young daughters eat, including seafood, but it isn't unusual to them, as they have both had seafood from weaning and they absolutely love it, just like me.

I do use a cheat here, a pack of prepared Mussels in Garlic, which you can pick up from practically any supermarket; you can of course just use normal mussels, but the garlic sauce adds to the pasta sauce.

You could equally just throw the squid into the pan to cook with the rest of the seafood in the sauce direct if you prefer. I picked all of the seafood up from my local Morrison's and the kind fishmonger prepared the squid for me so I literally just had to cut, season and cook.

Here's how:

• 12 large king prawns
• Pack of mussels in garlic 
• 1 squid, body and tentacles
• 1 large white onion
• 1 large garlic clove
• 1 red chilli
• 4 tomatoes
• 400g passata
• 1 tsp saffron threads
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• Sea salt and black pepper
• Handful parsley to serve
• Drizzle of olive oil
• 300-400g spaghetti or other pasta
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 lemon

Fill and boil the kettle. 

Add the drizzle of olive oil to a heavy-bottomed pan and place on a low heat.

Finely dice the onion, mince the garlic and slice the chilli and add to the pan to saute.

Now roughly chop the tomatoes and add to the pan once everything else has softened down. Finely chop the parsley and set aside for garnish, and cute the lemon into wedges and set aside too.

Season at this point and add the oregano and saffron and allow to cook for a few minutes. 

Now add the passata and tomato puree and allow to cook for fifteen minutes.

In the meantime, prepare the squid. Clean if necessary, otherwise, finely slice into rings, and keep the tentacles. In a bowl add the plain flour and paprika and season generously with sea salt and black pepper, combine and then toss the squid rings and tentacles into the flour and ensure they are well-coated. Now set aside.

Once the sauce has been cooking away for fifteen minutes, place the pasta on to cook according to the packet instructions and when only eight minutes of cooking time is left, throw in the prawns and the mussels and immerse into the sauce, turning every couple of minutes to ensure they cook through. You can see when the prawns are cooked through as they will colour to pink. 

In a separate pan drizzle a little more olive or vegetable oil and place on a high heat and once hot, add the squid to the pan, allow to cook for thirty seconds, and then turn each squid over and cook for a further thirty seconds or until crisp, then remove from the heat and set aside. (Please don't be tempted to cook for longer, as it will result in chewy, rubbery squid, a common mistake.)

Before draining the pasta, add a serving spoon full of the pasta-cooking-water to the sauce to loosen up and help the sauce stick to the pasta. 

Drain and shake the spaghetti to remove excess water then add to the cooking pan with most of the parsley and stir really well, ensuring all of the spaghetti strands get a thorough coating and then quickly dish up for the family. 

Complete by scattering over a final sprinkling of chopped parsley and adding a few of the fried squid rings to each portion and placing a wedge of lemon with each. Enjoy!

Seafood Spaghetti with Saffron and Chilli

Some other seafood dishes you may enjoy:
Vicky's Special Seafood Stew
Crab and Asparagus Linguine with Parsley Grantitata
Prawn Summer Rolls
Prawn and Chorizo Carbonara
Honey Chilli and Coconut Prawns with Ho Fun
Gourmet Seafood Burger
Crab, Chilli and Asparagus Pappardelle
Spanish Prawns with Chorizo, Tomatoes and Peppers
Prawn Saganaki

L'Anima

L’Anima is one of those seriously slick operations that everybody should try once. 

Francesco Mazzei’s menu, a modern twist on classic Italian, is alone, enough to guarantee your return. Combined with the stylish interior, top-notch service and piano lounge with regular live singers it’s not hard to see why this place always seems busy.

I visited recently with the boy on a Saturday evening, it was freezing cold and we didn’t fancy heading out too far and after a Google search or two, I discovered L’Anima’s ‘Prezzo Fisso’ set menu, £35 for three courses, we were sold.

Located just behind Liverpool Street station in the heart of the square mile, L’Anima is a huge glass fronted building, and considering its city location, it had a serious buzz for a weekend.

We ordered a bottle of the house Champagne (£60) and mulled over our choices. A basket of fresh, Italian bread was delivered, a few types included, all delicious, but none more so than a gloriously salty rosemary scented focaccia.

The set menu we chose from had just three options per course, which made for easier decision-making. 

Glen ordered the Seafood Spaghetti starter option whilst I opted for the Smoked Veal Carpaccio. The spaghetti was in a light tomato sauce with a strong and fiery chilli flavour and amongst the sea creatures included, were clams, mussels and the odd prawn. The portion was perfectly sized for a first course and it really packed a punch. It was the kind of starter that leaves you wanting more. 

The veal carpaccio was equally good. When I have enjoyed beef or fish carpaccio previously, the slices of flesh have been cut far thinner, however this chunkier version was simply delicious, the meat melted in the mouth and was expertly seasoned. With slithers of chestnuts and parmesan topping the dish and a few dark leaves, this was a gorgeous plate of food in every sense of the word.

For the main event, I opted for the Monkfish Gauzetto – basically a piece of monkfish stewed in a tomato, olive and caper sauce which was divine. If I were being incredibly picky, I might have preferred the fish cooked slightly less, but it didn’t really impact on the flavour, it was a dish I would return for with sublime flavours. Quite a strong garlic hum powered the stew, and it is once again, a dish I will be trying to emulate in my own kitchen (perhaps with chicken thighs, or pork cheeks). 

Glen chose the three meat cannelloni, which was a beautifully presented plate. Served on slate, was a slathering of rich, tomato sauce, topped with a creamy cheese sauce and completed with three tubes of fresh pasta filled with a delicious combination of meats. We never did get to the bottom of which meats were included, and as this was a fairly small portion for Glen, I was only allowed a small bite – however I would hazard a guess at pork, beef and rabbit (no horsemeat here). This was yet another fantastic, faultless dish. 

We also had a couple of sides to make up the meal a little, some roasted potatoes with peppers and char grilled vegetables – both good.  

For my dessert I had a vanilla panna cotta, which was soaked in grappa and sprinkled with pomegranate jewels – very pretty to look at, and a lovely refreshing pudding.

The absolute dish of the day though, without fail, had to be Glen’s Monte Bianco – this was quite frankly a triumph. Stunning to look at, and even better to taste, the meringue of pureed chestnuts was in a little structure, held together by fresh cream, and positioned in some rich, dark and utterly irresistible chocolate sauce. Chocolate nibs were scattered around the plate, and a scoop of chestnut ice cream was positioned with two little caramel balls of deliciousness. This was just marvellous, in every way. 

L’Anima’s Menu Prezzo Fisso to me, represents fine-dining at a much more affordable price. The evening we had set us back around the £160 mark, but we enjoyed three amazing courses each, a bottle of Champagne and a live soul singer to boot, in stylish surroundings, what more could a girl want on a Saturday night?