Seafood Linguine

Andrew and I have been married since June 2008. Even though we now have a wedding anniversary to celebrate, I think it's fun to celebrate our "dating anniversary" too. There are so many sad days in life, don't you think it's nice to celebrate every happy occasion you can think of?

Monday marked six years that Andrew and I have been together. Instead of going out to dinner, we decided to make a dinner we both love - seafood linguine. We stalked the seafood section of our local grocery store, then put together a simple scampi sauce. The meal turned out beautifully, and the anniversary was pretty great too!

Seafood Linguine

1 medium onion, diced

5 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 lb. sea scallops

1/2 lb. large shrimp

2 cans minced clams

1-1/2 lbs. mussels

1 lb. linguine

1 c. white wine

1 bottle clam juice

olive oil

salt

red pepper flakes

To start, drizzle olive oil into a large saucepan. Saute onions, garlic, and red pepper over medium heat unti onions are soft. At the same time, put a large pot of salted water on to boil for your pasta.

Clean mussels by washing them and removing their beards and any loose barnacles. The nice lady at the seafood counter was kind enough to pack the mussels on ice for me, since I wasn't planning to use them until the next day.

Add wine, clam juice, and mussels to pan. Bring to a simmer and cover.

While the mussels are cooking, prepare the other seafood. Don't forget to put the pasta into your boiling water!

The sea scallops we bought were really big, so I cut each one into six small chunks.

I like canned clams. I LOVE fresh clams, but they are tough to get at a decent price here in Ohio, and honestly, it would take SO much work to get the same amount of fresh clams that you get in a can.

So anyway. Crack the two cans. Drain one. Add both cans of clams, one with juice, to the saucepan.

Andrew helped me peel and devein the shrimp. This is NOT a pretty process, so I did not photograph it for you. I'm trying to entice you with my food, not gross you out. I chopped the shrimp, then added the shrimp and scallops to the pan. These only need to cook for two or three minutes, until the shrimp turn pink and the scallops turn opaque white.

Drain the pasta whenever it's done cooking. If the timing isn't perfect, just let it sit in the colander for a moment while you finish prepping the seafood.

Pile your cooked pasta into the pan.

Get your husband, neighbor, local superhero, or weightlifting pal to lift up that super heavy pan and dump it into a large bowl. Make sure you scrape out all the onions, clams, and other yummy goodness.

Get your garlic bread ready. You can find my recipe here. If you're comfortable with the broiler, you can prep your bread in the two minutes that the shrimp and scallops are cooking and broil it while you are mixing the linguine and serving it.

All in all, it's a pretty simple recipe that yields fantastic results. If you're a seafood fan, this is one that's definitely worth adding to your list of "special occasion" menus.