Seafood-Pasta Arrabbiata

This pasta dish is one of our favorites, and it's a nice one to prepare if you have the time to make your own pasta sauce from scratch. Arrabbiata, which means angry in Italian, is a spicy red sauce. Mike always has to remind me how to pronounce it: ah-rah-bee-AH-tah. If you're not a fan of spicy, go easy on the spice, or omit it altogether.

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 crown broccoli—stalks plus florets—about 2 cups
• 6-8 ounces mushrooms, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1/2 to 3/4 pound linguine or other pasta
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1+ tablespoons sundried tomatoes packed in oil
• 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes, with liquid
• 8-10 mussels, about 1/3 pound
• 1/2 cup cream sherry or white wine
• 3 or 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 pound raw shrimp, deveined and peeled

Directions

1. Cook the pasta according to package directions.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat.
3. Add the onion and cook it, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent.
4. Add the tomato paste and stir frequently for about 30 seconds, making sure that the paste does not burn.
5. Add the sundried tomatoes, the canned tomatoes, broccoli, and mushrooms, and stir well to combine.

6. Cover the sauce pan. When the mixture reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low so that the sauce is simmering.
7. When the tomato sauce has been simmering for about 10 minutes, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a skillet over medium heat.
8. When the oil is warm, add minced galic to skillet, and sauté briefly. Add the cream sherry or white wine, and heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Add mussels; stir and flip them over occasionally until they open—no more than 4 or 5 minutes.

9. Remove the skillet from the heat. Check mussels: discard any opened ones.
10. When the tomato sauce has cooked for about 20 minutes, add the shrimp, and stir. Cook the shrimp until they are fully pink, about 3 minutes. Add the mussels to the tomato mixture, and stir carefully to combine.

Serve the seafood tomato sauce over pasta.

She said

Try to buy the freshest seafood that is available. Frozen will do in a pinch.

Leftovers aren't quite as tasty as the fresh-from-the-stove servings, so considering cutting the recipe in half if you don't need the full amount of pasta plus seafood and sauce. You can even reserve some of the tomato sauce and freeze it before you add the seafood.

He said

This recipe is largely inspired by memories of trips to an Italian restaurant local to a friend's place where several of us fell in love with their Linguine Pescatore. As such, feel free to swap pasta types and to add other seafood as you desire (especially fun things like clams or scallops). I don't believe the original had broccoli, but we like the touch of green it brings. And most importantly, I don't remember the original using an arrabbiata sauce, so select your preferred level of heat. All in all it's a great choice for impressing a woman who likes both pasta and seafood.