Angel Hair Pasta with Seafood Sauce

Capellini all’ Istriana

Angel hair pasta is very thin and very easy to overcook. My trick is to drain the pasta when it is very al dente -- firm to the tooth -- and to let it finish cooking in the sauce. You’ll be surprised at the difference this can make.

Makes 6 servings

1 pound (about 30) medium shrimp

1/2 pound sea scallops

15 littleneck clams, shucked, liquor reserved or 15 clams in the shell (see Lidia’s Italian Table, p. 310, for shucking tips)

7 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

6 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

2 cups peeled, seeded and crushed tomatoes, (see note)

1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

3 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley

1 pound capellini

Prepare the seafood: Peel off the shell and tails from the shrimp. Devein the shrimp by making a shallow cut with a paring knife down the outer curved side of the shrimp and pulling out the vein. Remove the hard white nubbin attached to the side of the scallops and slice the scallops in half horizontally. Drain the clams, straining the liquor through a sieve lined with a double thickness of cheesecloth or a damp kitchen towel. Chop the clams coarsely and set the clams and strained liquor aside separately.

In a large pot, bring 6 quarts of salted water to a boil. In a heavy, medium skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, shaking the skillet, until lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and pepper flakes. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to simmering and simmer, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, about 20 minutes.

In a heavy, large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the scallops and cook, shaking the pan until the excess moisture evaporates and the scallops begin to change color, about 30 seconds. Stir in the shrimp and stir gently, just until they begin to change color, about 1 minute. Stir in the clams and immediately pour in the clam juice, being careful not to include any sand, if any, from the bottom of the container. Raise heat to high and shake the pan, until the liquid comes to a boil. Taste the liquid and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Add the tomato sauce to the seafood and bring to a boil, shaking the pan. Stir in 2 tablespoons olive oil and the parsley. Stir well, check the seasonings, adjusting if necessary. Set aside.

Stir the capellini into the boiling water. Cook just until the pasta is softened enough to bend freely when lifted from the water, about 11/2 minutes. The pasta will still be quite hard to the bite. Reserve about 1 cup of the pasta cooking water and drain the pasta. Return the pasta to the pot and place over medium-low heat. Add about three-quarters of the sauce and seafood.

Cook, stirring, until the pasta is al dente and coated with the sauce. Add some of the reserved pasta cooking water as necessary if the pasta appears dry. Stir in the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and transfer to a warm serving platter. Spoon the remaining sauce over the pasta.

Note: To make peeled seeded and chopped tomatoes, cut out the cores from 3 or 4 ripe plum tomatoes. Cut an "X" in the end opposite the cores. Plunge the tomatoes into a pot of boiling water and leave them just until the skins are loosened, from 10 seconds to 1 minute, depending on the tomatoes. Remove the tomatoes and plunge them into a bowl of cold water just long enough to cool them. Slip off the skins and cut the tomatoes in half lengthwise. Scoop out and discard seeds. Cut tomatoes into 1/4-inch dice. If top quality fresh tomatoes aren’t available, use canned peeled Italian tomatoes, preferably San Marzano, drained, seeded and crushed.