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ligurian seafood stew
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5 from 6 votes

Ligurian Seafood Stew with a Basil Saffron Creme Sauce

My Ligurian seafood stew with pan seared scallops, shrimp, flounder, jumbo lump crab meat and roasted vegetables topped with a delicate basil saffron cream will wow your guests.
Try my restaurant-style dinner in your home this weekend.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time25 minutes
Total Time40 minutes
Course: Entree
Cuisine: Italian, Italian - American
Servings: 2
Calories: 1413kcal

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!

Notes

*if sauce is too thick skip the flour and just add the butter, if its still too thick add additional cream or a little white wine or chicken stock.

Nutrition

Calories: 1413kcal | Carbohydrates: 144g | Protein: 69g | Fat: 63g | Saturated Fat: 33g | Cholesterol: 400mg | Sodium: 1732mg | Potassium: 2662mg | Fiber: 15g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 12615IU | Vitamin C: 60.7mg | Calcium: 417mg | Iron: 14mg