Decadent, rich, comforting and completely satisfying. This is a simple recipe, with bold flavors, that pairs well with a variety of wines.
Rigatoni alla Giovanni
1 pound Rigatoni
16 oz. light cream
3 garlic cloves diced
8 oz. diced pancetta
1 can tomato paste
12 large shrimp
12 large scallops
Handful or two of frozen peas
Salt & pepper
In a heavy bottomed pot, start the garlic and olive oil and after a few minutes, add the pancetta and render. This will take about 5-8 minutes over medium heat. Then add the light cream, stir, season with salt and pepper. Spoon in some of the tomato paste. Go a little at a time. This is a “pink” sauce, too much paste will turn it orange. It won’t affect the flavor, it’ll be delicious either way, but I was going for pink. At this point, remove from the heat and let sit. This can be made a few hours ahead of time and let “marinate” to meld the flavors. Here’s a picture at this stage.
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| Garlic, pancetta, & light cream. Note the color. |
As the water for the pasta boils, in a saute pan, sear the scallops. Make sure you pat them dry first, or they will steam and not sear. You want a nice brown color on each side. Once they’re done, remove to a warm plate, deglaze the saute pan with a dollop of white wine, and then saute the shrimp. When they are done, toss the shrimp into the sauce. Here is everything right before the shrimp went into the sauce. I’ve added a few handfuls of frozen peas into the sauce as well.
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| Ready to assemble and plate |
Finally, with the pasta al dente, plate with three shrimp and three scallops per person. I used an imported Rigatoni that was 500grams, so actually a bit more than a pound. Served 4. It is delicious and can’t really get more decadent. (hint: if you must, you can use heavy cream)
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| Pasta alla Giovanni |
Allora….
I make something pretty similar, but I do it all in a saute pan and use less cream. Basically saute all your veggies and seafood (or you can use chicken), add white wine, chicken broth and a little bit of heavy cream and reduce until you like the consistency.
Spoon over cooked pasta (I like fettucini).
Sounds delicious as well. Do you keep smaller portions of chicken stock frozen for applications such as this?