Strozzapreti with seafood

To prepare strozzapreti ai frutti di mare, start by cleaning the clams. Tap them on a cutting board, one by one, to make sure they are intact and not full of sand. If you find any broken clams, throw them away.

Then immerse them in a bowl full of fresh water and add plenty of salt to recreate sea water. Leave them to purge for a couple of hours; before using them, remember to make sure that none are unhatched, otherwise they will have to be discarded, and then rinsed.

Remove the volcanic incrustations on the shells with a small knife with a smooth blade, the back of which you will have to use, then peel off the byssus, that is the filamentous part, and finally scrape off the impurities with a small straw hat; rinse them under a jet of fresh water.

Finally, clean the shrimps too. Remove the legs and the shell on the back, leaving the rest intact. Then incise the back and remove the intestine, that black filament you will see

Put a frying pan on the stove, heat a splash of oil and a clove of poached garlic. Then plunge in the mussels and clams, immediately moisten with 50 g of wine 14 and close with the lid.

Shake the pan from time to time and allow the bivalves to fully open, which should take about 5 minutes. Once ready, drain them, keeping the cooking liquid aside, and then start shelling almost all the seafood, keeping some whole for decoration.

Put a saucepan on the stove, heat a drop of oil, plunge in the whole dates and add the crumbled dried chilli pepper, then very little water, about a tablespoon. Cover with the lid and cook at a gentle temperature for 15 minutes, stirring the pan occasionally.

When the cherry tomatoes have flaked off, add the prawns, turn up the heat and when they are coloured, deglaze them with the remaining white wine. As soon as the alcohol part has evaporated, lower the flame and add the shelled seafood and moisten with about 200 g of the cooking liquid from the mussels and clams.

Also add the olives and chopped parsley. Continue cooking for another 20 minutes or so, stirring occasionally and allowing the sauce to reduce a little: add more mussel and clam stock if necessary.

Cook the strozzapreti by pouring them into a pot of boiling, salted water. As soon as the pasta is cooked al dente, drain it directly into the sauce.

Then add a little more cooking water from the mussels and clams, so you can toss the pasta. Finally, with the flame off, add a little more oil and some chopped parsley. Stir and serve your strozzapreti with seafood.