One of my favorite things to do is making handmade pasta and one of my favorite things to eat is handmade pasta with seafood. Pasta with seafood for me is the essence of summer, with a cold glass of white wine! Add also some zucchini from the garden and a touch of cream and you'll have the perfect dish.
If you ask me in winter what's my favorite food, I'll have trouble finding an answer. In general, I cannot think of one perfect dish that I would eat over and over. But if you ask me the same question in summer, I'll quickly answer "Spaghetti allo Scoglio", which is Spaghetti with seafood.
Pasta and seafood for me is the perfect summer dish, hands down. You can change the shape of pasta, change the variety of seafood, add tomato sauce (like this Pasta with Squids and Tomato Sauce), or leave it white. The fact is, the flavor of seafood with the consistency of pasta is the best thing ever.
Seafood is the best Summer Food
But yes, I only enjoy it so much in summer. Eating seafood pasta in winter is not the same thing. It doesn't bring me the same amount of joy. It's missing the warm summer breeze while eating on the terrace. Oh, how I love summer.
Anyway, this dish is one of my classic improvised recipes. I didn't think it in advance, I didn't go to buy groceries for this dish. I simply opened my fridge and freezer and got together a bunch of my favorite ingredients.
So yes, I used frozen seafood in this case. But if you want to elevate this dish to impress friends and family, then I suggest you buy fresh shrimps and squids.
It's really an easy dish to make and you'll absolutely love it!
If you like the combination of zucchini and seafood, you also need to try this Pasta with Shrimps and Zucchini Mint sauce.
About Garganelli Pasta
Garganelli are one of my favorite pasta shapes to make and to eat. If you find them dried in your supermarket or want to switch them with Penne, go ahead. But if you like the challenge of making your own handmade pasta, continue reading.
Garganelli are originally from Emilia Romagna, a region in central Italy famous for some of the best Italian food, including handmade pasta. They're made with egg pasta dough, rolled thinly, and cut into squares. Then it's rolled on a board to close them and give them the classic stripy texture.
You can leave them smooth if you prefer, but the stripes give them a better texture and capture the sauce much better.
Check out also this extensive guide with step-by-step videos on how to make 10 different shapes of fresh pasta without a pasta machine.
The Recipe
📖 RECIPE
Garganelli Pasta with Shrimps, Squids and Zucchini
Ingredients
For the Garganelli Pasta
- 1 ¾ cups All Purpose Flour
- 2 Eggs
- Salt
For the Seafood Sauce
- 1 Zucchini
- 3.5 oz Shrimps, cleaned
- 3.5 oz Squids, cleaned
- 2 cloves garlic, halved
- ¼ cup White Wine
- Olive Oil
- Cream
- Salt
- Black Pepper
Instructions
- Start by making the pasta dough. Whisk the eggs and slowly add the flour and a pinch of salt, mixing vigorously. When you can no longer mix with the fork, start mixing and kneading the dough by hand for about 10 minutes. When you have a smooth and elastic dough, cover with plastic foil and let it rest about 20 minutes in the fridge.
- When the dough is rested, you can start rolling it. You can either roll it by hand with a rolling pin or with a pasta machine. When you get a thin sheet, cut it into squares 5x5 cm (2x2 inches).
- Place the square on the gnocchi board and with the apposite stick roll the square on itself starting from the corner.
- Let the Garganelli rest on a clean towel until it's time to cook them.
- To make the sauce, cut the zucchini into matchsticks and set them aside. Drizzle some olive oil in a large pan and add the garlic cloves.
- Turn the heat up and cook for a few minutes until the garlic starts browning. Add the thawed shrimps and squids cut into rings.
- Fry for a couple of minutes, then add the white wine and let it evaporate.
- Add the zucchini to the pan and season with salt and black pepper. Turn the heat down and cook until the zucchini starts to soften.
- Toss the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the cream to the pan and season again if necessary. Cook a couple of minutes more and then add the drained pasta. Add some pasta water if necessary and serve.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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