low carb seafood linguine

LOW CARB SEAFOOD LINGUINE

Low Carb Seafood Linguine uses zoodles, or thin courgette (zucchini) strands, instead of wheat pasta.

Courgettes (zucchini) accompany seafood amazingly well by adding additional flavour without overpowering notes. For me, however, a seafood main course is a meal for special occasions. Read on and you will discover my reservations about eating creatures that live at the bottom of the sea…



You can easily and quickly create linguine from the courgettes by using a simple julienne peeler, which is a peeler that has a toothed blade. No need for fancy tools like spiral machines.low carb seafood linguine

Although it is a simple and easy recipe, there is some preparation time, especially with regards to the fish. 

How to prepare the fish.

TIP: Wear disposable food-grade gloves: they will give you a better grip and stop your hands smelling fishy for ages.

mussels
mussels

Mussels should have their beards removed and then, using a wire brush or similar rough surfaced tool, their shells should be scrubbed well. This process is key to ensuring that no debris ends up in your plate and grinds against your teeth as you eat, which is highly unpleasant.

prawns
prawns

I prefer to de-shell my prawns before cooking them because it makes the dish more enjoyable. Just pull the head off, pinch the feet away, pull the tail off, then take off the shell. Remove the blue/brown bowel and you’re done. It will literally take 10 seconds for each one. No-one likes taking shells off prawns when they are coated in sauce, plus doing so takes time and makes your food go cold.

You may well ask why not buy prawns already de-shelled. You can, but while I’m still here in Italy (3 more weeks left before I return to England!) I am truly spoilt by the many varieties of prawns on sale and it is widely accepted that the de-shelled varieties are of lesser quality and not as tasty.

I also prefer to buy whole prawns so I can see if they have both eyes intact. This has become an obsession of mine since watching a BBC documentary on Chinese intensive prawn farming, which showed the females barbarically having one eye removed to make them more fertile.

I don’t know about you, but I feel guilty enough knowing that intensive farming causes massive destruction of mangroves and that wild capture involves trawling methods that has devastating consequences for the seabed and its living creatures, so I’d rather feel slightly better and avoid tortured prawns of Chinese origin. To appease my conscience, I cook seafood rarely, even though I absolutely love it, and buy only the very best I can find.

My local fishmonger travels to the Venice fish market at 4am every day and brings back whatever fish from local waters is available that day. He also sells fish from tropical waters, but only if ethically farmed or caught and refuses to stock anything that is not in season. Italy has extremely strict fishing laws designed to prevent overfishing or fishing during breeding periods, so I can’t always find what I want, but that’s fine by me. Back in lovely Kent next month, it will be a different story. If any fishmonger there has similar standards and ethics, please get in touch with me!

langoustines
langoustines

The langoustines (scampi) don’t really need anything done. I prefer to cut the long antennae because they often break off during cooking and end up mixed with the sauce, and I hate having to pick them out. So again, this is my choice, you don’t have to do that.

Do make sure you cook them whole, as they will infuse more flavour and make the final dish look pretty. Incidentally, beware of the breaded, packaged scampi sold in every supermarket and served traditionally in many eateries along with chips and peas. This terrible example of processed food is most likely a sad mix of lower grade fish combined with bulking additives and coated with a thick, unhealthy batter, even when advertised as ‘premium’ or ‘luxury’.

calamari
calamari

Calamari are very easy to clean, but there is a technique to learn, so it is best to ask your fishmonger to do that for you. Most fishmongers will oblige if they’re worth their title. With the calamari already cleaned, just run water inside the sack and pull any remaining viscera out. Then pull off the extra thin brown outer layer – the fresher they are the easier it will come off. Finally, use scissors to cut 1cm section across  the sack and you will end up with calamari rings.

Click on the photo to learn how to clean a squid (same process for calamari). Out of personal choice I also cook the tentacles, which I separate from the head by cutting just below the eyes. Note that I use calamari because they are more tender and succulent than squid, which tend to be rubbery and quite tasteless, especially if previously frozen.

The cleaning part over, it really is just a case of preparing your sauce, throwing everything in the pan and serving a few minutes later.

A sumptuous low carb seafood linguine dish: who needs pasta anyway?

Strictly speaking, low carb seafood linguine isn’t ideally ketogenic. Yes it is low carb thanks to using courgettes instead of pasta to mimic the linguine, but the fat content is nowhere near high enough for a true keto meal. Which gives me another reason, aside the ethical one, to savour it only as a special, occasional feast and appreciate every morsel.

Enjoy!

Low Carb Seafood Linguine
 
Author: 
Nutrition
  • Yield: 2
  • Serving: 1
  • Calories: 695
  • Fat: 29.5g
  • Net Carbs: 15g
  • Protein: 86g
Recipe type: Main Course
Cuisine: Ketogenic. Low Carb. LCHF. Grain Free. Gluten Free.
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Low carb seafood linguine made with zucchini strings. A real treat perfect for a romantic dinner or special occasion.
Ingredients
  • 300g raw large prawns, shell on ((best if they are the red Mediterranean variety))
  • 300g calamari
  • 4 large (300g), whole langoustines, shell on
  • 300g mussels in shell
  • 5 anchovy fillets
  • 2 medium (250g) courgettes
  • a handful of coarse Himalayan pink salt (U.S. option HERE)
  • ½ glass white wine
  • 30g extra virgin olive oil (U.S. option HERE)
  • 20g butter
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 shallot, chopped
  • 300g sieved tomatoes
  • cayenne pepper
  • paprika
  • a sprinkle organic fish stock granules (or ½ stock cube)
  • a sprinkle of ground mixed spice
  • ½ chilli, chopped (optional)
  • 4 TBSP fresh parsley, chopped
Instructions
  1. de-shell the prawns, pull off the black stringy 'bowel' and rinse.
  2. remove the beard from the mussels by pinching the 'hair' as close to the shell as possible and yanking with a quick sharp movement; scrub clean under running water.
  3. cut the calamari across so as to obtain rings about ½cm wide.
  4. cut off the long antennae of the langoustines and rinse.
  5. leave your prepared fish in a colander to drain.
  6. slice the courgettes lengthways, using a julienne peeler or similar tool, so as to obtain your linguine.
  7. add water and a handful of coarse himalayan pink salt to a medium sized pan; cover it and put it on the hob over medium heat.
  8. add oil, butter, garlic, shallot and anchovies to a wok or flat bottomed, round-sided pan.
  9. cook on high heat for 1 min, then turn heat down to medium and add tomatoes, fish stock granules, spices and chilli (optional).
  10. simmer on medium-low heat for 10 min, adding 100ml water if the sauce seems too thick.
  11. taste test and adjust seasoning as required.
  12. add the mussels, stir and cover with a lid; cook for 2 minutes, then add all other fish and stir.
  13. turn heat to high and pour in the wine, stirring.
  14. keep lid off until wine has evaporated (3-4 min), then put lid back on, turn heat back down to medium and simmer for 15 min, stirring from time to time.
  15. add parsley just before end of cooking time.
  16. add your linguine to the boiling water, cook for 2-3 minutes until al dente and drain.
  17. divide the linguine between two plates, add the fish and fish sauce, and place the langoustines on top.
  18. best served immediately.
Notes
Metric kitchen scales are an inexpensive yet invaluable gadget to ensure accurate measurement of ingredients. Store them upright in a cupboard or over your worktop and they'll only take up a tiny bit of space. Click HERE for the ones I use. For U.S. option click HERE.

Your feedback is important to me! Please leave a comment below. If you make this recipe, share a photo with the hashtag #queenketo. Thank you!

 

Click on a star to rate it!

Average rating 3 / 5. Votes: 1

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*