Seafood carbonara, the elegant and refined recipe

There seafood carbonara it is a fanciful and effective version of the classic pasta alla carbonara. Perfect to serve for an elegant dinner, the seafood carbonara is prepared with the classic cream of egg yolk, pecorino and pepper, but the bacon is replaced by fresh fish: squid, octopus, tuna, salmon, prawns and scampi. The result is a tasty and particular pasta dish, where the combination of egg cream, al dente pasta and fish will amaze your palate. Seafood carbonara is the evolution of tuna carbonara, made with fresh tuna fillet. In our version we have chosen to use spaghetti of the “restaurant” variety, but you can also choose square spaghetti or striped half sleeves. We advise you to buy fresh fish already cleaned and gutted in your trusted fish shop: in this way it will take very little time to prepare it.

Ingredients for 4 people

  • Spaghetti: 350 g
  • Squid: 1
  • Dormouse: 1
  • Fresh tuna: 180 g
  • Fresh salmon: 180 g
  • Shrimps: 15
  • Scampi: 2
  • Garlic: 1 clove
  • Peppers: 2
  • Dry white wine: 150ml
  • Extra virgin olive oil: to taste
  • Eggs: 1
  • Yolks: 2
  • Pecorino Romano: 4 tbsp
  • Black pepper: to taste
  • Salt to taste
  • Preparation: 35 minutes
  • Cooking: 25 minutes
  • Total: 60 minutes

Preparation

1

To prepare the seafood carbonara, start with the salmon: remove the skin with a sharp knife and remove the central spine. Run your fingertips over the meat to assess the presence of any other thorns and, if you find them, remove them with tweezers. Finally, cut the salmon into cubes.

2

Proceed to clean the tuna as well: place the fillet on a cutting board, remove any residues and cut it into cubes.

3

Wash the squid and dormouse, with a sharp knife cut the heads into rings, while the tentacles will be cut into cubes.

4

Clean the prawns, leaving 4 whole prawns for decoration. The head will have to be removed from the other prawns and set aside. Remove the carapace and make a small incision on the back of the shrimp, then remove the intestine with a toothpick.

5

Pour about 4 tablespoons of oil into a non-stick pan, add the previously peeled garlic clove and a sprinkling of chilli pepper. Sauté for two minutes, then add the prawn heads and sauté for a few seconds.

6

Remove the shrimp heads and the garlic, then pour the cut squid and dormouse into the pan. Cook for 10 minutes on medium heat. When they begin to be lighter and less translucent, you can add the salmon and tuna and continue cooking for another 4 minutes.

7

Season with salt and add the peeled and cleaned prawns.

8

Finally, add the scampi. The scampi is a particularly tasty but at the same time delicate crustacean, which will give your seafood carbonara an extra flavour. Also add the four prawns still with the carapace, pour in the dry white wine and continue cooking for about 11-12 minutes.

9

Place a pot of salted water on the stove and bring it to a boil over medium heat. When the water is boiling, add the spaghetti. While the pasta is cooking, pour the whole egg and the two yolks into a bowl.

10

With a fork, start mixing well. Add 3-4 tablespoons of grated pecorino romano and a generous sprinkling of black pepper.

11

Keep beating with a fork until you get a smooth cream. Drain the pasta al dente and pour it directly into the pan with the fish.

12

Add a ladle of cooking water to the pan so as to create a creamy sauce thanks to the presence of starch. Also add the egg, pecorino and black pepper mixture. Mix well and quickly with kitchen tongs, then serve the seafood carbonara immediately, still hot.

Advice and tips

You can buy the part of salmon fillet which does not contain the central bone and has a very small amount of thorns. The part used by us in the recipe is that of the tail, which contains more spines.

We recommend you to buy fresh fish and not frozen. However, if you are forced to use only frozen fish, let it defrost completely before using it.

Cleaning squid and baby octopus is quite complex for a novice. For this reason, if you’ve never practiced it, we advise you to leave the two molluscs to clean yourself fishmonger of trust.

You can omit some of the fish, if you don’t like it, or make substitutions: for example, you can substitute the squid with a cuttlefish and the tuna with swordfishor prawns with prawns or king prawns.

If you prefer not to consume the raw egg white, replace thewhole egg with two more yolks.

You can use the grated Parmesan cheese instead of pecorino romano. The important thing is that it is well mixed with the egg cream.

storage

Seafood spaghetti carbonara must be consumed immediately. They cannot be refrigerated or frozen.

Ingredients for 4 people

  • Spaghetti: 350 g
  • Squid: 1
  • Dormouse: 1
  • Fresh tuna: 180 g
  • Fresh salmon: 180 g
  • Shrimps: 15
  • Scampi: 2
  • Garlic: 1 clove
  • Peppers: 2
  • Dry white wine: 150ml
  • Extra virgin olive oil: to taste
  • Eggs: 1
  • Yolks: 2
  • Pecorino Romano: 4 tbsp
  • Black pepper: to taste
  • Salt to taste
  • Preparation: 35 minutes
  • Cooking: 25 minutes
  • Total: 60 minutes
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Philip Owell

Professional blogger, here to bring you new and interesting content every time you visit our blog.