(Chitarra agli scampi) Langoustines fresh spaghetti

A super easy pasta dish from the 90ies, when people didn’t pay too much attention to shellfish’s cooking time. This sauce was thankfully one of the very few preparations that benefitted from those days as it came out flavourful like a fish stew, much more than the langoustine themselves, perfect to dress freshly made egg spaghetti.

Chitarra spaghetti are squared and usually made with egg-based dough. Don’t worry tough, normal spaghetti works too.

Serve: 4 pp // Prep: 35 minutes

For the dish:

• 400/500 gr of spaghetti alla chitarra (homemade or store bought)

• 400 gr of small size langoustines

• 750 gr of tomatoes in tin

• 1 medium onion

• 2 cloves of garlic

• 1 sprig of rosemary

• 1 sprig of parsley

• 4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

• 80 ml of white wine

• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Sweat the chopped onion and garlic in a large pan with a drizzle of oil and a pinch of salt. Once lightly golden add the langoustines and the rosemary sprig (tight with twine). Let them cook on medium heat until golden then pour in the wine and let the alcohol evaporate. Now add the tomato passata or the crushed plum tomatoes, season with a good pinch of salt and let it simmer on medium heat for about 30/40 minutes.

The result should be a thicker sauce but not over reduced so don’t overcook it. Remove the rosemary and drop the spaghetti alla chitarra in salted boiling water. If the pasta is fresh, cook it for just 2 minutes then drop it straight into the sauce. Let it simmer for 2 minutes into the sauce to absorb all the goodness and season to taste. Add the chopped parsley and plate the spaghetti with a few langoustines each.