The recipe was devised by Marcello Diaz, son of the great General who stopped the Austrians in WWI, and was prepared by Luigi Picone, chef of the Circolo del Remo e Della Vela Italia.
Prep Time: 12 hours, 45 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 1/4 pounds (1 k) live mussels
- 2 1/4 pounds (1 k) live clams
- 14 ounces (350 g) prawns
- Fish broth
- 1 small tin Russian crab meat
- 1 cup flour
- 3/4 cup (200 ml) heavy cream
- 1/4 cup (50 g) unsalted butter
- 1 pint (500 ml) milk
- Paprika to taste
- Abundant minced parsley
- 1 tablespoon butter for greasing the pan
- 2 tablespoons Parmigiano
- 3/4 pound (350 g) maccheroni
Preparation:
Wash your shellfish (see instructions on handling live shellfish if need be), and heat them in a large pot, covered, with two tablespoons of oil, until they have opened. Shuck them, discarding the shells, and reserve their broth. Shell the prawns, and keep them chilled until it comes time to use them. Simmer their shells for a half hour in the clam broth, diluting the broth with just a little water if absolutely necessary. When the time is up, strain the broth through a damp cloth.Open the can of crab meat and add its juices to the clam broth.
Make a béchamel sauce (see instructions if need be) adding the milk and then the cream to the butter-and-flour mixture, so as to obtain a fairly liquid white sauce. Season it with paprika to taste, abundant parsley, and salt as necessary.
Combine the shellfish (less the prawns) in a bowl, stir some sauce into them, and warm them for 15 minutes over a double boiler. Cook the pasta in salted water, draining it when it is still quite al dente, and season it with half of the sauce and half of the shellfish.
Preheat your oven to 360 F (180 C). Butter an ovenproof dish, pour the pasta into it, spreading them about to have a uniform layer, spread the remaining shellfish over it and lay the prawns over them, then cover all with the remaining sauce and clam juice, and dust everything with grated Parmigiano. Bake the pasta for about a half hour, or until the top has browned, let it sit for five minutes upon removing it from the oven, and serve it.
A Wine? I'd be tempted by a Falanghina, one of Campania's finer whites.
My reply to GaryBannister:
Thank you for asking. You added the clam broth at the right time.
Kyle Phillips, Your Guide to Italian Cooking
