Linguine allo Scoglio

I’ve tasted this seafood pasta dish many times in Italy and wanted to recreate it at home. A quick google search led me to America’s Test Kitchen, whom I adore. I agreed with their sentiment that while Linguine Frutti di Mare is nice, Linguine allo Scoglio is the ultimate shellfish and pasta dish! By the same notion, some recipes for it just don’t taste very seafood-y at all. But I believe this recipe for Linguine allo Scoglio really lets the seafood shine! I tweaked it and made this recipe my own, it’s a lot of ingredients but so worth it – I hope you like it!

Notes:
If you can’t find soft shell clams or cockles, replace all or part of the recipe with little neck clams. You can omit the baby octopus if you like and just use the squid tentacles instead, if you do, just add the tentacles at the same time as the tubes. My market didn’t have any on the day I needed and we love the tentacles in Linguine allo Scoglio so I had to improvise.

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons good extra-virgin olive oil
• 12 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 pound soft shell clams, scrubbed
• 1 pound mussels, scrubbed
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, whole
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 8oz bottled clam juice
• 1 teaspoon colatura (Italian fish sauce)
• 1 cup good dry white wine
• 1 cup fresh parsley, minced
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 4 anchovy fillets, minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, minced
• Sea Salt (preferably from Trapani, Sicily)
• Fresh Cracked Black Pepper
• 1 pound dried bronze dye-drawn linguine
• 6 head-on scampi shrimp or langostinos
• 12 Argentina red extra-large shrimp (16-18ct), peeled and deveined
• ¾ lb calamari tubes, clean and cut into rings
• 1 pound baby octopus, pre-cooked
• Grated zest from one organic lemon

Preparation Steps:

1. In a medium pot bring 2 quarts of water to boil, add 1 teaspoon salt. Boil the baby octopus for 10 minutes. Drain water and set aside. Once they are cooled, cut in pieces or in half if they are too large.
2. Heat ¼ cup olive oil in an extra large Dutch oven, such as Le Cruset, over medium-high heat until simmering. Add garlic, red pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add soft shell clams & cockles, cover and cook, shaking pan occasionally, for 4 minutes. Add mussels, cover and continue to cook, shaking pan occasionally, until clams and mussels have opened, about 3-4 minutes longer. Transfer clams and mussels to bowl, discarding any that haven’t opened, and cover with foil to keep warm; leave any broth in the pot.
3. Add whole tomatoes, clam juice, colatura, wine, ½ cup parsley, tomato paste, anchovies, thyme, and 1 teaspoon sea salt to pot and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Add langostinos. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes have started to break down and sauce is reduced by one-third, about 5 minutes.
4. In the meantime, bring 4 quarts of water to boil in large pot. Add pasta, 2 tablespoons salt and cook, stirring gently, but often for 5 minutes. Reserve 1 cup cooking water, then drain pasta.
5. Add pasta to sauce in Dutch oven and cook over medium heat, stirring gently for 3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low, stir in shrimp, cover, and cook for 4 minutes. Stir in squid, lemon zest, halved tomatoes, and remaining ½ cup parsley; cover and continue to cook until shrimp and squid are just cooked through, about 2 minutes longer. Gently add back in the clams, mussels and baby octopus. Remove pot from heat, cover and let stand until mussels and clams are warmed through, about 2 minutes. Season with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste and adjust consistency with reserved cooking water, if needed. Transfer to large serving dish, drizzle with 2 tablespoons good extra virgin olive oil and serve immediately, ladle some of the broth from bottom of pan onto each dish and buon appetito!