Squid Ink Linguini with Seafood and Pink Peppercorns

Made this spicy, seafood pasta for Christmas dinner a few months ago. Though the noodles are black, the parsley and pink peppercorns make it a colourful, festive and delicious dish!

If you are intimidated by the squid ink in the linguini, replace it with regular linguini. At any rate, you can't taste any of the ink anyway in the pasta.



SQUID INK LINGUINI WITH SEAFOOD AND PINK PEPPERCORNS
Serves 6

Ingredients:
1 pack (500 g) squid ink linguini (or any flavour to your liking)
200 grams squid rings
200 grams prawns, shelled; heads and tails removed
500 grams cuttlefish
zest and juice of one lemon
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon loose, pink peppercorns
olive oil
1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley (stems and leaves) and 1/8 cup fresh, chopped rosemary
1 head garlic, sliced lengthwise
1 onion, sliced in chunks

Procedure:

1. Drain seafood. Season with salt and pepper. Heat oil and panfry seafood. Once cooked, take it out of the pan and set aside. There will be a "crust" formed in the pan. Don't worry about that as this will be deglazed later and will add to the flavour.

This is the cuttlefish that I used.

2.  In the same pot, sauté the garlic and onions. Add oil as necessary.

3. Add the chopped parsley stems and rosemary.

4. Add the chili flakes, and sauté further.

5. Deglaze the pan by adding the white wine, stirring and gently scraping off the bits stuck at the bottom of the pan.  Put the fire to low.

6.  In the meantime, cook your noodles by boiling a deep pot of water with a LOT of salt. Once the water is boiling rapidly, add your noodles and cook al dente, about 5 minutes.

7. When your noodles are nearly done, add back the seafood into the pot with the sauce. Mix well.

8. When you're ready, turn up the heat of the pan with the sauce, and put the cooked noodles in batches. Mix well. In between batches, add the chopped Italian parsley leaves and the pink peppercorns. If the pasta seems dry, add some of the pasta water. 

Tip: Reserve some of this pasta water so you can add it to the pasta if there are leftovers. This pasta water helps to make the pasta moist upon reheating.

9.   You may serve it in the same casserole dish or transfer into a pasta bowl. Drizzle the pasta with the lemon juice, and top with the rind. Serve hot. This is a dish that can't wait, or the pasta will clump together!