00:00Hello, this is Chef John from Foodwishes.com with Easy Seafood Pasta.
00:08That's right, the best seafood pasta technique I know is also the easiest seafood pasta technique I know.
00:15And in less time than it takes to cook the pasta, we're going to be able to make an incredibly
00:19delicious sauce
00:20that works no matter what seafood you use or what pasta you choose.
00:25And to get started, because this is so quick, we will generously salt some water and bring it up to
00:30a boil on high heat.
00:32And I do mean generous. This is one of the keys to making great pasta.
00:36And if you sift a spoon of this, it should actually taste a little bit salty.
00:41But anyway, once that comes up to a boil, we will add our pasta.
00:44And as you can see, I'm using shells.
00:47And while literally any kind of pasta would work, I think this shape is ideal.
00:52And what we'll do once that's stirred in, is turn our heat down to medium.
00:55And we'll cook that to our desired doneness, giving it the occasional stir.
01:00And while that's cooking, we'll go ahead and make our super simple seafood sauce,
01:04which for me is going to include some fresh salmon, as well as some shrimp.
01:08And as far as prepping the salmon goes, usually we'd remove the skin and then cut it into chunks.
01:13But let me show you a cool trick where we leave the skin on for now.
01:16And we actually slice down through the meat like this, every half to three quarters of an inch or so.
01:22Right, going down to the skin, but not slicing through.
01:25And then because this was a nice thick piece, I'm going to make one cut down the center.
01:30And once that's been accomplished, we will place our knife in one of the cuts near the center.
01:35And then we'll slice straight against the skin.
01:37And once we get to the end, all those pieces are just going to fall off.
01:42And by the way, I'm glad I'm not doing this in a restaurant with a chef watching me,
01:46since I definitely would have got yelled at for leaving that much on the skin.
01:49I know it's only a tiny bit, but they would have a point.
01:53So make sure your knife is pressing firmly against the skin.
01:56But anyway, we'll do that to the other side.
01:59And if you do miss a little meat here and there, you can just slice it off.
02:02It will totally work since we're making a pasta.
02:05And while you could if you want to go a little bit smaller,
02:07I would not make these pieces too much bigger than this.
02:10Since again, we want to be able to finish our sauce while our pasta cooks.
02:14And what we'll do is transfer that salmon into the fridge
02:17while we prep our peeled and deveined shrimp,
02:20which I'm going to do by cutting them into nice small bite-sized pieces.
02:23And while there's so many great options for this pasta,
02:26I really do love the combo of the sweet shrimp with the more savory fatty salmon.
02:31But the beauty of this recipe is that pretty much any kind of seafood will work.
02:35So please use what you want.
02:37I mean, you are, after all, the bismarquee of pasta made with food from the sea.
02:42And once we have that prepped,
02:43and our pasta is about five minutes away from being done,
02:46we will get some olive oil nice and hot over medium-high heat.
02:50And we'll go ahead and transfer our seafood in.
02:53And we will sort of spread that out and arrange it into a nice single layer.
02:57And then we will season this up with a pinch of salt,
03:01plus a few shakes of cayenne, which is pretty much mandatory here.
03:05And what we'll do is cook this stirring and tossing for about 30 seconds.
03:09And if possible, we'll turn over some of the bigger pieces,
03:11so they get some heat on both sides.
03:14But that's actually optional, and you can just cook it on one side.
03:18But either way, after about 30 seconds, we will stop and toss in some garlic.
03:23And we'll cook that stirring for about 15 to 20 seconds, just to take off the raw edge.
03:28At which point we can transfer in our cream, which is sort of the key to the whole operation.
03:34Okay, besides what we use to flavor this with, this is pretty much a one-ingredient sauce.
03:39And what we'll do is give that a minute to come up to a boil.
03:42And while it does, we'll grate in the zest of one lemon.
03:45And then we'll squeeze in some of the lemon juice.
03:48And we'll reduce our heat to low.
03:50And by the way, between the shots, I actually shook the pan,
03:53which is why it looks a little bit different.
03:55But don't worry, you didn't miss anything.
03:58And at this point, we can turn off the heat.
04:00And once our lemon juice is in, and our heat's off,
04:03we can begin to transfer in our hopefully perfectly cooked pasta,
04:07which, if everything goes according to plan,
04:09has finished cooking exactly at this point.
04:12But if it's not quite done, don't worry.
04:14As long as the heat's off, that sauce will be fine sitting there for a few minutes.
04:18And once all those shells were transferred in,
04:21I tossed in a nice big pinch of freshly chopped tarragon,
04:24which, as you know, is my favorite seafood herb.
04:27And we'll turn our heat back up to medium-high,
04:29and we'll give everything a stir.
04:31And basically, as soon as that sauce starts to bubble again,
04:34our seafood should be perfectly cooked.
04:36And our sauce will have the perfect thickness.
04:39And by the way, if you think it's a little too thick,
04:41just toss in a splash of the pasta water,
04:44which is pretty much how we adjust all pasta sauces.
04:47But mine was looking perfect.
04:48So I turned off the heat,
04:50and I finished up with a little grating of Parmesan cheese.
04:53Oh yeah, the real stuff.
04:55Parmigiano Reggiano.
04:56And if you're one of these people that thinks you never compare cheese with fish,
05:00I have two words for you.
05:02Tuna melt.
05:04One of the greatest sandwiches ever invented.
05:06But anyway, after giving that one last toss,
05:09we'll go ahead and plate up,
05:10or should I say bowl up,
05:12since a bowl always keeps pasta warmer longer than a plate.
05:16And then just to annoy the no cheese with fish fundamentalists,
05:20I will finish up with one last grating of Parm,
05:23followed by a few more shakes of cayenne,
05:25and a nice big beautiful sprig of tarragon,
05:28just to let people know what they're going to be getting into.
05:30And that's it.
05:32The easiest seafood pasta I know is ready to enjoy.
05:36So I'm going to find a spoon and lose the sprig.
05:39Oh, note to self.
05:41Buy some non-skid placemats.
05:43But anyway, that, my friends,
05:45is just a simple but magnificent seafood pasta,
05:49especially when you consider how fast it was to put together.
05:52I mean, if you're quick with a knife,
05:54you really should be able to make this in the time it takes to cook your pasta.
05:58But even if you have to prep your seafood first,
06:00it is still an extremely quick recipe to put together.
06:04And thanks to the magic that is a sauce made with reduced cream,
06:08we have something that seems very rich and decadent,
06:11but this is actually very light on the palate.
06:14And that's where the lemon and herb come in,
06:16since those balance the richness of the cream beautifully.
06:19And as I touched on earlier,
06:21while I love this salmon and shrimp combo,
06:24this is going to work out the same no matter which seafood you use,
06:27or which pasta shape you choose.
06:29So once you learn and master a recipe like this,
06:32it's really like learning a hundred recipes at once.
06:35And all you need to do is use the same technique
06:38and simply switch up the ingredients.
06:40But no matter what you use,
06:42it's going to be fast, easy, and delicious,
06:44which is why I really do hope you give this a try soon.
06:48So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts,
06:51a printable written recipe,
06:53and much more info as usual.
06:55And as always, enjoy.
Comments