We are lucky to live along the ocean, on the Monterey Bay, and our wild savory kitchen is often filled with the abundance of seafood harvested just a few miles away. We gather mussels from the tide pools and rocks, fish I catch from the Bay, and Dungeness crabs and squid from boats just offshore. So the Frutti di Mare dishes are always changing, we use whatever is available and fresh. This dish is seafood heaven, with mussels, crabs, lobsters, wild caught bay scallops, squid, baby octopus, and our favorite shrimp, Argentinian Red shrimp from the icy waters off Argentina. Served with reduced wine and clam broth, garden fresh tomatoes and tons of garlic, the fruits of the sea are a huge part of the good life.
When we travel, especially to Italy and Spain, we always rent a home with a good kitchen and we very often make Frutti di Mare from local fresh sources. A few years ago Rebekah and I were in Tuscany, staying in one of our favorite ancient towns, called Vinci. It was the home of Leonardo de Vinci as a boy. The little villa we rented is located across a hillside and a little stream from Leonardo’s home, the small farmhouse he grew up in as a boy. A beautiful place. We decided to cook all our meals in the original ancient kitchen of our little villa, by the stone fireplace right there in the kitchen. We went crazy and made vast bowls of food on our rustic stove, feeding anyone who came through the door.
After day trips to Florence, Sienna, Volterra, Montepulciano, San Gimignano (our favorite of the walled Medieval towns of Tuscany), we were deeply thrilled to cook up a storm. We cooked amid sun drenched evenings with sunsets flooding the sky, with driving rain rattling the windows, one awe inspiring hailstorm with shutters slamming, all with a pot belly stove heating the waiting bedroom.
And that’s where we made many bowls of Frutti di Mare. The shrimps, the clams and mussels, the baby octopus, the cuttlefish, scallops, the amazing Branzino fish… all of it was fresh and beautiful.
This Frutti di Mare is very deep in us and has always felt like a life lived in abundance.
Ingredients
2 pounds clams
2 pounds mussels
2 pounds shrimp or scallops or lobster
2 pounds baby octopus or cuttlefish or squid
1/2 pound pancetta or smoked bacon, pork or turkey (we sometimes add Prosciutto at the end, just for color)
16 ounces spaghetti pasta, or linguine
(we use Montebello or Rustichella d’Abruzzo brand, or we use our own homemade pasta fresh)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
5-8 cloves garlic, depending on size
8 ounces white wine
16 ounces already reduced shrimp broth or clam juice in jars from the market
1 bunch Italian parsley
4 fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons crushed red pepper seeds
2 tablespoons lemon zest
Prep Work
Peel the shells off the shrimp, salt and pepper them and put aside. Please don’t discard the shells, boil them down in 8 cups of water, with a 1/2 teaspoon of salt. When you have reduced by 2/3, cool and put aside.
Boil the pasta and when al dente, rinse in cool water, shake well and put aside to rest.
Fry the pancetta or bacon until crispy, cool and roughly chop
Cooking
Using a large saute pan, crush the garlic into the olive oil while it’s still cool and the warm it up slowly, being careful it doesn’t get past slightly toasty. Add the shrimp and baby octopus or cuttlefish, gently fry till nearly cooked, about 2 minutes. Remove and set aside.
Add the white wine and the ALREADY reduced seafood broth. Simmer until hot and add the clams and mussels and simmer until they have just opened.
Add back the shrimp, octopus, cuttlefish, pancetta or bacon, lemon zest, parsley and tomatoes. Using large spoons, mix everything together and cook until hot.
Add back the pasta and stir until fully married. You can add color with prosciutto and serve in a huge bowl with toasted crusty bread. Enjoy!
