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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Soooo tasty and so easy to cook….up there in taste with the typical Italian dish….
Awesome Mary – Thanks so much for letting me know!
what is the other option if I don’t have a passata sauce? is it possible if i will use tomato paste?
Hi Samantha, blitzed tinned tomatoes will work the same, paste is too concentrate – N x
Thank you,
I absolutely love this dish 🙂
Thanks so much Georg ❤️
Making this awesome recipe for the second time tonight. My partner was so impressed last time I made it! Thanks Nagi!! xx
Enjoy Amanda!!
Hi Nagi what’s the substitute for white wine.. thank you. I love al your recipe!!:):)
Hi Faith, the substitutes are listed in the recipe notes – N x
Thank you!😊
Yum yum! My family voted it the best seafood marinara I’ve ever done. THANK-YOU
Woot! Sounds like you nailed it Kerry!
Just made this for my family and they LOVED it! I added a touch of cream to the sauce (per hubby’s request). Thank you so much and I love the way you write and your witty sense of humor!
Sounds amazing Nici, I’m so glad you loved it!
I have just found you and am in dinner heaven … happiness for us all … I will be cooking this tonight … we cannot wait. Thank you for your wonderful recipes!
Wahoo! I hope you loved it Joss – N x
Hi I absolutely LOVE yr site so thankyou for it. I’m about to cook this Marinara but we are coeliacs so my question is if I use GF pasta will the water still have the same starch like properties to thicken it like normal pasta or will it make it watery?
Hi Belinda, it should do, maybe just add a little at a time to see that it thickens – N x
Hi Nagi
When do you add the mussels.
Hi Alison, they have a short cook time so I’d add them just before the calamari – N x
The best marinara recipe so far, I cooked this 3 times already. My family loves it!
Awesome Ana, I’m so glad it’s a hit!
thanks, a simple recipe that tasted great. I love the way you wright . Easy to follow , i could feel your passion in the words. Great tip to remove the seafood so not to over cook thanks , looking forward to try some off your other dishes.
I’m so glad you love my recipes Stuart!
Thank you for posting this recipe, it looks delicious. The marinara mix I got has mussels and octopus in it, when and how should I add them to the mix?
Hi Liz, octopus will have a medium cook time while the mussels have a short cook time – so cook your larger seafood first, then add in the octopus then muscles last minute. I hope you love it!
A big huge thank you for this recipe! We made it while holiday on the coast in Apollo Bay, Australia with the freshest of seafood. Thanks again!
Glad you enjoyed this Hannah!! Thanks for letting me know – N x
I made this recipe tonight and it went down a great. Being a bit of a foodie, I made my own pasta. I also handpicked what I wanted in my marinara mix (large unpeeled prawns, scallops, cuttle fish, firm red lipped fillet, mussels) and used the heads of the prawn when sautéing the onion and garlic. Removed the heads after cooking down the wine. I more than doubled the recipe and it barely fed 4 pax – everyone went back for seconds. Thanks for the recipe, can’t wait to try it again.
Wow Chris, hats off to anyone who makes their own pasta! Glad you enjoyed this 🙂
My wife and I loved the food,easy to follow and great taste.
Om the menu now.
iI used this recipe for our 20th anniversary, it was simple to follow and the food according to my wife was delicious, I now have to cook it again for one of our friends.
Excellent recipe loved it.
Ken
Congratulations on your anniversary Ken!! 🙂 N x
Thanks for the recipe, it was great! I especially liked the tips about cooking the fish and seafood in stages. I added mussels but left to last cooking them in the sauce with the pasta and the rest of the marinara. My husband doesn’t like rich tomato sauce so I just used 1/2 cup of organic pasta sauce (Aldi). Adding 1/2 tsp sugar makes all the difference, thank you for that inclusion too. We both loved the meal and it will be a regular dish for us.
Amazing. Im not a seafood fan, so i didnt even try it while cooking, my husband loved it, stuck the recipe and taste was perfect . He is also requesting this as a must have again… apparently once a week would be great haha
Glad you enjoyed it Miranda! Thanks for letting me know! N x
another amazing dish I have tried of yours, first the oven baked meatballs which i have made 3 times now! I have decided that i am only going to look for recipes on your website now they are so tasty!
Mellie xxx
That’s terrific to hear Mellie! Thanks so much for letting me know! N xx