Spaghetti alla busara – spaghetti with langoustines
Valeria serves up her spaghetti alla busara recipe – or spaghetti with langoustines. The beautiful shellfish are cooked simply with a vibrant tomato sauce with a hint of chilli and garlic. This recipe is taken from Veneto: Recipes From an Italian Country Kitchen by Valeria Necchio, published by Faber & Faber. Photography by Valeria Necchio.
Ingredients
Spaghetti with langoustines
- 1kg langoustines
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, whole but lightly crushed
- 2 dried chillies, (or 1/4 tsp of chilli flakes)
- 180ml of dry white wine
- 700g of plum tomatoes , peeled, deseeded and chopped, or use finely chopped cherry tomatoes
- 400g of spaghetti
- 1 tbsp of flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
- 60ml of extra virgin olive oil
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Method
1
Start by cleaning the langoustines. Wash them thoroughly under cold running water, then slit the back and remove the black thread (intestine). Set aside
2
Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the onion over a medium heat until soft and translucent
3
Add the garlic and the chillies and stir. Let them infuse in the oil for a couple of minutes (reduce the heat if it looks like they're burning), then throw in the langoustines and increase the heat to high
4
Season with salt and pepper and sauté for 2 minutes, then remove from the pan and set aside
5
Pour in the wine; allow it to reduce over a very high heat and then add the chopped tomatoes. Reduce the heat to medium, cover and cook for 15–20 minutes, until the tomatoes appear saucy. If during this time the sauce dries out excessively, add a drop of water. Turn off the heat and cover to keep warm
6
Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Cook the spaghetti very al dente – about 3 minutes short of the suggested cooking time – reserving about 250ml of the cooking water
7
Drain and transfer to the pan with the tomato sauce and add the langoustines too. Place over a medium–high heat and pour in the reserved cooking water
8
Toss until the pasta has absorbed most of the liquid and is nicely coated in sauce. Sprinkle with parsley and toss in some more to combine. Serve right away
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Spaghetti alla busara – spaghetti with langoustines
