Across Italy · No.87 / 103
Seafood Spaghetti al Cartoccio
Seafood Spaghetti al Cartoccio
Spaghetti with mussels, clams, shrimp and cherry tomatoes, sealed in parchment and finished in the oven.
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Meet the dish
An Italian pasta finished by sealing seafood sauce and noodles in a parchment parcel and baking it
Mussels, clams, shrimp and cherry tomatoes are tossed with the pasta before everything is sealed in parchment and transferred to the oven. Steam inside the parcel joins the seafood juices to the noodles, and opening it at the table is part of the dish.
Pasta shapes to use
- spaghetti
- linguine
Key ingredients
- mussels
- clams
- shrimp
- cherry tomatoes
- garlic
- parsley
Follow the cooking scenes
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Step 1: Open the shellfish
Cook purged clams and scrubbed mussels in a covered pan over high heat. Discard any that stay closed and remove half from their shells.
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Step 2: Build the seafood sauce
Scent olive oil with garlic and parsley stems, cook cherry tomatoes for five minutes, then add the shellfish for another five minutes and prepare the cleaned shrimp.
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Step 3: Undercook the pasta
Boil spaghetti until three minutes short of the package time, then transfer it to the sauce with a ladle of cooking water and parsley without cooking it for long.
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Step 4: Finish in the parcel
Layer foil and parchment on a tray, add the pasta and seafood, and seal. Bake for five minutes at 200°C and open the parcel at the table.
What to watch for
- Taste before adding salt because mussels and clams season the sauce; discard any shellfish that remain closed.
- Stop boiling the pasta three minutes early because it cooks again in the oven, and seal the parcel tightly enough to hold its steam.
What sets it apart
Unlike regular spaghetti allo scoglio finished in a pan, this pasta is undercooked first, sealed in parchment and completed in the oven with trapped seafood steam.