A classic, easy seafood pasta made using a seafood marinara mix: prawns / shrimp, calamari, fish and mussels tossed through a simple, tasty tomato sauce. Made properly, the real proper Italian way, this Seafood Spaghetti Marinara is dinner on the table in 20 minutes!
Seafood Spaghetti Marinara
This recipe is dedicated to Bill and Pauline, the owners of a gorgeous young Golden Retriever called Lucy that Dozer plays with regularly at the beach.
When I say “dedicated”, I don’t mean any kind of heartfelt, deep and meaningful dedication. There is no sentiment behind this dedication.
It is just that I’ve now dictated this recipe to them three times while Dozer and Lucy were playing on the beach, and rather than continuing that weekly routine, I thought I’d just write the recipe out properly for them!!!
While a seafood pasta may sound fancy, in actual fact, this is super fast and easy to make. It really is dinner on the table in 20 minutes, if you can manage boiling the pasta while you make the (very easy) sauce.
I don’t want to show off, but it takes me 15 minutes. Should I do a video to prove it?? 😉
Mind you, I start with a pre-prepared seafood Marinara mix. Nowadays good seafood stores sell great quality marinara (the fish monger in Pittwater Place, for those in my area!), a good mix of small prawns/shrimp, pieces of fish, slices of calamari and shelled mussels. And it’s super great value too.
The key to the sauce for this pasta is searing the seafood first, then removing it before proceeding to make the pasta sauce. This way, the seafood is not overcooked, and also the sauce benefits from the residual flavour left in the pan after searing the seafood.
For the sauce – tomato passata
I like to make this sauce using tomato passata (pictured above) which is simply pureed plain tomatoes. It’s thicker and smooth, unlike canned crushed tomatoes, so it makes a lovely quick sauce. Nowadays, passata is sold in all major supermarkets here in Australia – in the pasta section – and it costs just a little more than canned tomatoes.
Toss the pasta!!
The other important step for this recipe is emulsifying. It sounds fancy, but all it requires is cooking the pasta in the sauce with some pasta cooking water for a minute or two right before serving.
This is a secret step mastered by all the Italian Nonna’s and proper restaurants around the world that makes all the difference. It’s magic because it thickens the sauce so it clings lusciously to every strand of pasta. Rather than a watery pool of sauce in the bottom of the bowl. 🙂
If you want to get technical, it’s because of the reaction that occurs between the starch in the pasta cooking water and the oil in the sauce. 🙂
I made this yesterday (Tuesday) and bumped into Pauline and Bill at the dog park just after I gave the homeless man a big steaming container of this pasta. The homeless man gave this a big thumbs up. Pauline and Bill politely declined my request for a family photo to include in this post. However, I know they’re certainly looking forward to getting their hands on this recipe – written out properly for them!!
– Nagi x
PS To bridge the communication gap: “Marinara” to most of the world other than Australia means a tomato pasta sauce. Not to be confused with “Marinara seafood mix” as sold in Australia, being a premix of different types of seafood in bite size pieces. So to Australians, “Spaghetti Marinara” means a seafood pasta, whereas in other countries, it means spaghetti in a tomato sauce.
In this particular recipe, it’s pasta with seafood in a tomato sauce….so I sort of captured both meanings!!!
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Seafood Spaghetti Marinara
Ingredients
- 6 oz / 180g dried spaghetti pasta (or other long pasta of choice)
- 2 1/2 tbsp olive oil , separated
- 10 oz / 300g seafood Marinara mix , or make your own (Note 1)
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1/2 onion , finely chopped (~1/2 cup)
- 1/2 cup white wine (any) (Note 2)
- 2 cups tomato passata/tomato puree (Note 3) OR 600g/20oz canned crushed tomato + 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Cook pasta according to packet directions, but reduce the cooking time by 1 minute (because the pasta will finish cooking in the sauce). RESERVE 1 mug of pasta water, then drain the pasta.
- Separate the seafood mix based on cook time. Longest cook time: fish and medium / large prawns, medium cook time: small prawns, shortest cook time: calamari.
- Heat 1 1/2 tbsp oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add fish and large prawns first, cook for 30 seconds. Add small prawns, cook for 30 seconds. Add calamari, cook for 1 minute. Immediately transfer everything to a bowl.
- Reduce heat to medium high. Heat remaining 1 tbsp oil, then add garlic and onion. Cook for 3 minutes until onion is translucent.
- Add wine and bring to simmer, scraping the bottom of the skillet to mix the brown bits into the liquid. Simmer for 1 minute or until alcohol smell has evaporated.
- Add tomato passata, sugar, salt & pepper. Low heat to medium high, bring to simmer and cook for 2 minutes. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
- Add pasta, seafood, around 1/2 cup of reserved pasta cooking water into the sauce. Toss gently and cook for 1 to 2 minutes or until the sauce has thickened and coats the pasta.
- Serve, garnished with fresh parsley. (See Note 4 re: parmesan cheese)
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer: Being dumped by a wave. Came out of it with his tail still wagging, and went straight back in for more. Currently trying to teach him to body-surf. It is not going well. 🙂
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Superb recipe. Instructions are so easy to follow and the end result looks just like Nagi’s photos and tastes divine.
Fabulous recipe Nagi, made it today for lunch. Marinara mix at the supermarket was looking rather awful, made up my own with scallops, squid tubes, prawns, mussels and a lobster tail. It was fabulous, thank you.
Love this recipe so delicious. Do you have a pasta dough recipe would love to try and make my own pasta. Just bought a pasta maker machine. Thanks Nagi
One to add to my list Kay!! N x
Amazing recipe. Sauce was soo delicious!
Better than a restaurant
Easy and delicious
I’m so glad you love it Linda, that’s great to hear! N x
Hi Nagi,
I just wanted to say thank you. Every time I google a variety recipes I pick a couple and always come back to yours. They are always the tastiest and in most cases easy to make. So thanks this was another winner. Appreciate you always sharing. 🌸
Second time I have cooled this and it was great. I got creative with cayenne pepper and my wife did not appreciate it. “Why not just follow the recipe?” she exclaimed. Oh well – I like it with a bit of extra heat – but i love the original recipe and may stick to it for a bit or harmony. Thanks Nagi.
I used fresh fettuccini & added the liquid from the seafood (there was a bit as I added mussels too), instead of using pasta liquid. I thought it wasn’t going to turn out but absolutely delicious!! Will definitely be a quick go to recipe. Thank you 🙂
Tried this yesterday and my family loved it! I would like to ask the shelf life how to reheat this pasta? Thank you!
Hi lovely Nagi,
I want to make this recipe today.
Can I slow cook the sauce for a few hours and then do the seafood mix later? Will it come out nice? 😚
Made this last night – absolutely amazing – simple-quick and delicious
I’ve also added 95g tuna and 4 anchovies in oil . But 180g of pasta wasn’t enough for two angry Italian
Good morning Nagi, I love your recipes and wondering if I could turn this seafood pasta recipe into a lasagna
Never even thought of something like that Fiona – something to pop on my recipe list! N x
Amazing, thank you! Followed the recipe exactly and it was just perfection.
This recipe is delicious, unbelievable the difference the 1 cup of pasta water makes. I never knew this before. Thank you
Hi Nagi, i tried simmering the seafood but it would dry up like you picture. I end up with cooked seafood with pooled of thick juice on the bottom ( with strong fishy smell) . I have tried using both frozen or fresh seafood mix. Separate them as well base on time to cook. They just wont charr n dry..i am left with fish flakes in the tomato sauce as i have definately overcooked it. Help?
I’ve read that when seafood won’t char properly it is usually because it was treated before packaging. When purchasing a pre-mix or separate seafood items, make sure to check the ingredient list. It should only list the actual seafood item and not anything else. This is especially true for scallops and shrimp which I buy frozen. Maybe that will help in your future attempts in cooking with seafood/fish.
Made this last night, wow…so delicious! Great recipe…thank you.
My daughters favourite, she requested this again this for her Birthday. Thankyou again Nagi
Nagi, absolutely gorgeous recipe….. again! Thank you. Hubby has requested we put this on high rotation. We’re blessed with a fantastic fishmonger at our local fresh food market so our marinara mix was full of mainly tuna, large prawns and calamari. A few mussels in there as well and all so yum. I used three large fresh tomatoes from the garden instead of passata and it worked beautifully. Can’t wait to make it again!
Hey Nagi, Do you ever add mussles/clams to this? Excited to try! Thanks x
I haven’t, but they would be great! N x
Hi Nagi. If using mussels where would the cooking time ‘sit’ in the cooking of the seafood? Thx