Recipe of the day: Pasta with seafood sauce

For an authentic taste of the Mediterranean, prepare this delightful seafood pasta at home. This dish, created by Chef Fanny Dias, the executive chef on MSC Splendida, is brimming with fresh prawns, squid, mussels, and clams, all tossed in a fragrant white wine, garlic, and cherry tomato sauce. It offers the freshness and simplicity of coastal Italian cuisine, perfect for entertaining guests or treating your family to a restaurant-quality seafood meal. The recipe serves ten people.

To make this dish, start with 800 grams of mezzi paccheri, also known as calamarata di Gragnano. Finely chop 10 grams of fresh garlic and heat it in 50 milliliters of extra virgin olive oil. Add 400 grams of squid tubes and tentacles, cleaned and sliced, and sauté until cooked. Next, incorporate 300 grams of raw shrimp tails, with the shell on, and cook further.

Include 100 grams of shelled mussel meat and 150 grams of clams, all for the sauce. Pour in 300 grams of whole black mussels, to be used as garnish, and 500 milliliters of white wine. Add 300 halved red cherry tomatoes and season with 10 grams of salt and 5 grams of ground black pepper. Stir gently to combine.

While the seafood cooks in the white wine, prepare the pasta. Boil 800 grams of mezzi paccheri in salted water until it is cooked but still firm to the bite. Drain the pasta and then toss it together with the sauce. Finish the dish by sprinkling chopped fresh parsley over the top. Serve this captivating seafood pasta, garnished with the whole mussels and clams, for a truly memorable dining experience.