Linguine ai Frutti di
Mare
Campanian-style mixed seafood pasta
Linguine catches the juices of mussels, clams, squid and shrimp, with garlic, white wine and tomato making a light seafood sauce.
Long pasta, mussels, shrimp & tomatoPasta and shellfish juices,
a Campanian coastal combination.
Linguine ai frutti di mare combines long pasta with mixed seafood and its cooking juices. Mussels and clams bring briny flavor, while squid and shrimp give contrasting textures. Garlic, olive oil, wine and tomato form a coating rather than a thick cream sauce.
Mixed seafood pasta is common along the Italian coast, with a strong place in Campanian cooking and several local pasta shapes. The home recipe chooses dried linguine, cherry tomatoes and a defined four-seafood mix. Shellfish are steamed and their juices strained separately; squid and shrimp join at different stages so the pasta can finish without overcooking everything together.
Explore by food: Fish & seafood · Pasta
Let’s make linguine ai frutti di mare.
Four first-course portions. Start with scrubbed, debearded live mussels, purged live clams, cleaned squid and peeled raw shrimp. Any supplier-directed extra purging or thawing is separate.
Four first-course portions; mussels and clams are weighed shell-on.
The tomato sauce and pasta water heating run alongside pasta cooking after the shellfish have been steamed.
What you’ll need
- 360 gdried linguine
- 500 glive mussels, scrubbed and debearded
- 500 gpurged live clams
- 200 gcleaned squid, in 1 cm rings with small tentacle clusters
- 200 graw shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 300 gcherry tomatoes, halved
- 2garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 45 mlextra-virgin olive oil
- 100 mldry white wine
- 200 mlwater, for steaming shellfish, divided
- 2 tbspchopped parsley
- 4 lwater, for pasta
- 10 gcoarse salt, for pasta water, adjusted after tasting shellfish liquid
- to tastefine salt and black pepper
The cooking allowance includes two separate shellfish steam cycles, straining and shelling, sauce and pasta. Heat pasta water alongside the sauce. If squid remains firm after 15 minutes, continue simmering it before starting the pasta.
How to make it
- 01
Steam separately
Discard cracked shellfish and any open ones. Bring 100 ml steaming water to a vigorous simmer in a lidded pot. Add mussels, cover and steam for 7–9 minutes, shaking occasionally, until fully open and cooked through; discard any closed ones. Repeat with clams and remaining 100 ml water for 7–9 minutes. Strain both liquids through a fine sieve lined with damp kitchen paper. Shell most mussels and clams, keeping a few shells for serving.
- 02
Start the tomato sauce
Warm oil and garlic in a wide pan for 1 minute. Add squid and cook for 2 minutes, then add wine and simmer for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and 100 ml strained shellfish liquid. Simmer gently for about 15 minutes until squid is tender; add splashes of pasta water later if needed. Taste the liquid first and use less if very salty.
- 03
Cook the linguine
While sauce simmers, boil 4 l pasta water and salt lightly. Cook linguine for 3 minutes less than its packet time. Reserve 300 ml cooking water before draining.
- 04
Finish pasta and shrimp
Add linguine to the sauce with 100 ml reserved pasta water. Add shrimp and toss over medium heat for 3–4 minutes, until shrimp is opaque and pearly throughout and pasta is tender with a slight bite. Add more reserved water as needed. Squid and shrimp should reach 63°C/145°F.
- 05
Warm shellfish and serve
Fold in cooked mussels and clams, including reserved shells, and heat through for about 1 minute. Add parsley, pepper and salt only after tasting. Serve immediately.
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