How to make Ligurian Seafood Stew.
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For the seafood, I seared the scallops, and shrimp but broiled the flounder. I steamed the mussels with a little olive oil, and heated the jumbo lump crabmeat in butter so every item would retain its flavor!
The sauce started with the juices left from cooking the mussels. Adding basil and saffron seemed like a good choice to bring the flavors together.
I have to tell you, it’s hard to surprise myself with something I cooked, but this dish was incredible if I do say so myself, the only thing I would have changed would have been my choice of pasta, I used pappardelle, and a thinner noodle would have gone better with this dish.
While we are making seafood, be sure to try out my tasty Italian Baccala cod recipe, so good. Oh, and my delicious cioppino recipe, tasty!
More seafood Recipes You’ll Love!
Ligurian Seafood Stew with a Basil Saffron Creme Sauce
Ingredients
Seafood
- 4 oz flounder or fish of your choice
- 4 oz shrimp peeled and deveined
- 4 oz Sea Scallops
- ½ lb mussels
- ¼ lb jumbo lump or lump crabmeat
Roasted Vegetables
- 1 bulb fennel sliced sliced
- 2 stalks celery stew cut
- 2 carrots stew cut
- 2 potatoes stew cut
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 onion stew cut
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- sea salt and black pepper
Basil -saffron cream sauce
- 1 tablespoon chopped basil
- pinch of saffron threads
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon flour
- ½ pound of linguine or spaghetti
Instructions
- preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Cook pasta al dente per instruction on box, then set aside
Roasted Vegetables
- cut vegetables and place in roasting pan with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste and toss to coat with oil and seasonings
- roast for 20-25 minutes
Seafood
- place flounder on baking pan drizzle with olive oil, sea salt and pepper, add a little water to the pan and bake for 20 minutes
- add mussels to saute pan with 2 tablespoon of olive oil, cover with lid or another pan and allow to steam open (about 8 minutes)
- let mussels cool then remove from shells and place in a bowl, and discard shells, but save the juices in the pan!
- add heavy cream, ¾ of the basil, and the saffron to the mussels juices, bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer, allow sauce to reduce by ⅓
- get a saute pan very hot with a little oil and sear the scallops until you get some crusting for color, cook on each side and remove from pan.
- Sear shrimp until almost done, remove from pan
- In another saute pan, gently heat the crabmeat
Bring it all together
- timing is everything with this dish, vegetables, and flounder should be done.
- reheat pasta in a pan with a little olive oil or return to boiling water briefly, which ever method you prefer.
- Place scallops, shrimp, and mussels in saute pan and reheat gently but quickly, in just a little oil or water.
- take the butter and roll it in the flour to make a beurre manie and place in the sauce to finish thickening*
Assemble
- Place pasta in a mound at the bottom of a bowl or center of a plate
- place roasted vegetables around outside pasta
- place flounder in center of pasta
- pour sauce over flounder, splitting it evenly between the two dishes
- place scallops and shrimp around the flounder
- sprinkle with remaining basil and serve immediately!
Erin @ Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts says
What an incredible meal! Love your tips on getting more seafood at home. I always buy frozen shrimp too, but wasn’t sure that was the best way – now I know! I am going to have to buy scallops that way too; i have avoided them because of the cost of fresh ones up until now!
Inessa says
This looks soo delicious! Love all the ingredients you used. I will deft try this dish. thanks for sharing. 🙂 I will be back to your site for some more Delish recipes!!!!
Jill@MadAboutMacarons says
Dennis, I’m going to casually leave your blog post open for hubby to see as a hint: I LOVE eating out and would do anything for you to be able to serve me this for a change. Other than that, you’ve posted the recipe – looks fabulous. If I’m not taken out, high time hubby cooked for a real change!
deana@lostpastremembered says
The stew looks wonderful… but adding the saffron cream would make it divine… must try this combo, Dennis!
Culinary Cache says
This is a fabulous recipe, I love your use of saffron, which as we know sets off seafood incredibly well. I also love the variety of seafood used in this dish. Absolutely beautiful one I will have to try soon!
deniz says
thanks dannıs
Janet@FCTC says
As I eye this, I wish my husband liked seafood but alas, he doesn’t. So that means…. MORE FOR ME!!! Cause there is no way I’m NOT making this because he won’t eat it. I’ll just make him something else 😀
FreeSpiritEater says
Wow Chef! I could devour the entire pot of this seafood stew, it looks sooo decadent! Thanks for sharing such a drool inducing dish. Have a great night =]
Kath says
This looks like a great choice for Valentine’s Day! <3
Happy When Not Hungry says
This stew looks fabulous! Just love fresh seafood. Yum!
Susan says
This sounds wonderful and I love all your advice about buying frozen, etc. Thanks for sharing a great recipe.
Deanna says
I love the increase in IQF fish available. The stuff frozen at sea is especially good. I normally have really good luck with Costco, and I think all of their fish has the MSC logo. Anyways, this sounds amazing, and I will have to start procuring ingredients.
Dara says
Love it. Here in New England, we take great pride in our fresh seafood, so it’s about time I started to take advantage of that!