Il nero rimane  sempre chic – Spaghetti al nero di seppia con tagliatelle di zucchine, gamberi, granchio, e capesante con sugo di pomodoro

blackinkpasta3web

Lucca Ravioli, the Italian grocery store, on Valencia do carry occasionally black ink in small little bags. This time, they didn’t have any in stock so I bought already made black ink spaghetti. The brand is called “Maestri Pastai” and the spaghetti are 21 inches long, so if you don’t know how to eat spaghetti, you’ll have a hard time trying to eat those.

In France, it was difficult to find this type of pasta; most of the time we would bring tons back from Italy. Probably because France is not the country of pasta and that was not known among the French about ten years ago, but now you can find it.

Ideally black ink pasta is served with seafood, the flavor of the black ink in pasta is subtle and very delicate, there is nothing better than seafood to enhance its natural flavor.

Black ink spaghetti with zucchini tagliatelle, shrimps, crab and sea scallops on spicy tomato base

Ingredients

  • 150 g of black ink spaghetti or any other black ink pasta
  • Crab
  • Shrimps
  • Small sea scallops
  • 2 Tomatoes, diced and chopped
  • 1 Medium size zucchini
  • 1 Shallot, chopped
  • 2 Garlic cloves, crushed
  • 2 Tbs white wine
  • 1 tbs Basil, chopped
  • 1 tbs Parsley, chopped
  • 1 tbs Chives, chopped
  • 1/4 tsp chili powder
  • Salt and pepper

Instructions

Remove crab meat from its shell, peel the shrimps and set aside.

Peel the tomatoes, remove the skin and chop them. Set aside.

Heat olive oil in a pan and add the shallot, let the shallot soften and brown, add the garlic, stir to get the fragrance out, add the basil, stir for one minute or so, then add the tomatoes and the chili, the wine, salt and pepper.

Cook at high heat until the wine evaporates and the tomato is cooked, the sauce needs to remain juicy and not dry.

In the meantime, with a peeler or a mandoline, slice the zucchini lengthwise making thin slices. Cut those in two lengthwise. In a pan, boil salted water, and add the zucchini tagliatelle for about 30 seconds, they need to remain crunchy.

When the tomato sauce is almost cooked add the shrimps, then the scallops, do not overcook seafood or it will get rubbery, salt and pepper to taste, add the crab, stir for a few minutes, then add zucchini tagliatelle. Cook for another minute or so.

Boil salted water in a pot; cook the spaghetti al dente, they still need to be crunchy in the middle such as the regular spaghetti.  Drain and serve with the seafood sauce. At the end, add the herbs and a sprinkle of olive oil, toss and serve.