Angel Hair Pasta with Shrimp, Mussels, and Tomatoes: Seafood on a Budget
Updated: 3 days ago
This Italian pasta dish uses frozen whole shrimp (but you can use peeled shrimp without heads if you want) and mussels in a light tomato-garlic sauce and costs around $13 for four generous servings.
A Facebook friend from the Midwest complimented me by saying that this dish (I had posted a picture) looked good and that I was "so lucky to live in a place with good seafood." I immediately felt like an imposter because all the seafood in this dish was purchased frozen from Walmart or Wild Fork. I had shopped online, and I hadn't even left my car in the Tampa Bay heat. So I looked, and I found all the ingredients to make this dish for around $12 in Fargo, ND. You can make this dish cheaply and easily if you live near a Walmart (or similar store) that stocks frozen seafood.
Frozen seafood is often fresher than fresh seafood (because it is flash frozen earlier) and is much cheaper.
Cooking with Frozen Seafood on a Budget
Everyone loves pasta, and almost everyone loves seafood, but many cooks are hesitant to try cooking seafood at home. When celebrity and social media chefs cook seafood, they use very pricey fresh seafood. That's fine if you live in Los Angeles, New York, or San Francisco and have unlimited time and money, but what about the rest of us? You can still have great seafood meals if you find a reasonably priced frozen seafood source. I love Wild Fork Foods (in Florida and many major cities, but they ship everywhere) and Walmart (with some excellent seafood options). If you know what you are looking for, they are always inexpensive.
This recipe was inspired by a recipe from Chef Scott Conant, who cooked a version of this dish on the Today show. This man is pure genius. I loved the look of the dish and Chef C's enthusiasm for seafood and Italian cuisine, but it was just too expensive for my everyday life, and most people have no access to fresh, whole shrimp. While this dish is healthy and light (can anyone say "Mediterranean diet?"), many cooks avoid cooking seafood because it seems mysterious and costly. So, I made the dish easier and less costly by using frozen seafood. I changed the pasta from spaghetti to angel hair - it makes the timing of the dish much easier because angel hair cooks so much quicker. Finally, I found that this recipe needed a little more tomato and garlic than called for in the recipe, and the dish needed twice as much seafood and considerably less pasta (a pound for four people is just too much unless the meal is all pasta). This dish allows you to serve seafood on a budget to your family with ingredients from your freezer and pantry, and it will generously feed four people, with no one feeling deprived of seafood.
The Shrimp and Mussels
I bought a pound of whole shrimp (with heads and shells) from Wild Fork Foods for $5.50. Although this shrimp is farm-raised, it's quite tasty. Finding wild-caught whole shrimp is challenging because shrimp spoil quickly if the head isn't removed. Unless a fishing boat can freeze the shrimp at sea or sell their catch daily, they probably won't sell whole shrimp. That's alright because whole shrimp offer the advantage of cooking with the head's contents, which enhances dishes if cooked into the sauce. (If you remove the heads before cooking this dish, keep them to create the best seafood stock ever.)
If you don't live near a Wild Fork Foods, the next best option is Walmart—yes, Walmart. Go with me on this one. Walmart sells good whole shrimp; a 2-pound box is around $10. You can make this dish twice for four people or four times for two people on one box.
I bought the mussels in this dish for around $3 at Aldi. I have also purchased frozen, cooked mussels from Wild Fork Foods for under $3. Walmart also has an option around the same price point. The mussels are cooked, but some preparation must be done before using them in this recipe.
Frozen Seafood Must Be Cleaned
The reality is that frozen seafood typically must be inspected and cleaned before you use it. For whole shrimp, you must devein the shrimp and snip off the long antennas. But don't cut the shell down the back--I'm aghast at how even notable chefs mangle shrimp in the name of cleaning them. I learned the technique for deveining a whole shrimp from an Asian cook. Make a small snip in the shell near the head and another in the shell near the tail. Take a toothpick, find the vein, and pull gently to remove it. If it breaks, go to the other place you snipped the shell. If it comes out whole, congratulate yourself. Your shrimp is ready to go.
The mussels are a bit harder to clean, but I want to remind you that they are cheap. First, thaw the mussels in a colander, but put it in a large bowl to catch the juices. Do not throw these juices away--there is tons of flavor there. Unfortunately, tons of sand and pieces of the "beard" of the mussel were not removed prior to cooking. (These "beards" must be removed from all mussels, hopefully before cooking. Take the drained mussels one at a time, remove any pieces of the beard that remain, and wipe off any debris on the shell.
When you are done, rinse them briefly in cool water. Then, put the juices you captured through a fine-mesh sieve. When mussels cook, they release juices. To mimic fresh mussels, you should retain the juices of your frozen, cooked mussels and add them to your dish. But remember to strain these juices before you use them.
Once you have deveined your frozen shrimp, cleaned your mussels, and strained their liquid, you are ready to begin making this dish.
Choice of Pasta
This recipe calls for angel hair pasta, but you can use spaghetti or linguine. I like angel hair pasta because it is lighter, and cooks more quickly, making the timing o f this dish easier. But you can easily substitute your favorite pasta.
The Aromatics
To make this dish great, you must use fresh garlic and basil. This is a very simple sauce with just a few ingredients. There is no cream, cheese, or tomato paste to hide behind if the aromatics are wrong.
Don't use "jarlic" as the taste is always off. You can use a tube of pureed basil, but Aldi sells a flat of basil for around $1 most days. If you are lucky enough to have a green thumb, you may have a basil plant in your kitchen window. The fresh parsley for serving is (barely) optional. Take it from this cancer survivor--the smell of garlic and basil cooking in your sauté pan is why we strive to keep living. It's that good. Get some fresh garlic and basil, and Aldi sells reasonably priced wine while you are there. Life is short. Cook the recipe. Buy the wine.
The Tomatoes
I used a pint of wonderful little cherry tomatoes in this recipe and added a ripe Roma tomato. You should use the tomatoes you love the most and have available. I used the Roma only because I had a ripe tomato I needed to use. But be generous, and feel free to add more tomatoes. Cut cherry or grape tomatoes in half and chop larger tomatoes. Fresh tomatoes with basil, garlic, and olive oil are just heavenly. If I had a bunch of "tomatoes on the vine" on my table, I would use that. Just make sure you are generous and use good-tasting ripe tomatoes.
Timing of Recipe
Put 3 quarts of water on to boil and add 1 T of salt before you begin. Get a nice big sauté pan or Dutch oven and prepare your ingredients. Cook the shrimp first so they are partially done. Don't overcook the shrimp at this stage.
Reserve the shrimp. Put 1/4 cup of olive oil in your pan and reduce the heat. Cook the garlic and crushed red pepper until the edges begin to brown. Add the tomatoes and cook until they reduce down and are softened. Before going on, make sure your water is boiling. Add the cleaned mussels to your sauteed tomatoes and the reserved mussel liquid when the water is boiling.
Then add dried angel hair pasta to your boiling water. Cook your pasta shy of al dente--for my pasta, that was two minutes. Drain your pasta, but reserve a cup of past water. Add the shrimp to the tomato mixture, then add the cooked pasta. Stir the pasta and seafood around and add the pasta water, 1/4 c. at a time. You will need at least 1/2 cup. Stir the dish until it is creamy, and the pasta is cooked perfectly--this will take a couple of minutes, but no more.
Add the chopped basil and stir for another 30 seconds. Put the dish on a serving plate and sprinkle with fresh Italian parsley or more fresh chopped basil. Serve with a nice Sauvignon Blanc or Pinto Grigio and many napkins. For true seafood lovers, removing the shells is a marvelous way to know your seafood is fresh and tasty.
Enjoy seafood on a budget!
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