Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:
- 3/4 pound spaghetti
- 20 small calamari (squids)
- 10 carpet shell clams (vongole veraci)
- 8 date shell mussels (datteri di mare -- if they're allowed where you live -- in the Mediterranean they're protected)
- 8 Warty Venus clams (tartufi di mare)
- 4 mussels
- 4 giant prawns (sparnocchi)
- 4 large shrimp
- A reef mullet
- 3 moderately ripe tomatoes, blanched, peeled, seeded and chopped finely
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 1/2 a hot red pepper, seeded and shredded
- 5 basil leaves
- 2 tablespoons minced parsley
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- Salt to taste
- Aluminum foil
Preparation:
Wash all the shellfish very well, and scale and clean the mullet. Set a pot with three quarts of lightly salted water to boil.In the meantime, pour the quarter cup of olive oil into a large skillet, and add to it the garlic, the shredded pepper, and the seafood. Cook over a low flame for 5 minutes, then add the chopped tomatoes, parsley and basil. Simmer for 15 minutes. Preheat your oven to 450 F (250C).
Keep an eye on the pasta pot as the sauce simmers, and when the water boils add the pasta. Let it cook until half done, then drain it into a colander, and transfer it while it is still dripping to the skillet with the sauce. Toss the pasta-sauce mixture by moving the skillet as you would if you were flipping an omelette. Roll out a long sheet of aluminum foil and fold up the sides to make a box-like container. Transfer the pasta to the container, fold the aluminum foil over it, and crimp the edges together to make a sealed pouch (you can also make individual pouches for your guests if you wish). Bake in the oven for 5 minutes, at which point the pouch will have puffed up. Slide it onto a serving dish and open it at the table.
A Wine? A white, for example a Falanghina del Taburno.
Yield: 4 servings spaghetti al Cartoccio.
