Garlic Butter Seafood Pasta

Ingredients

• spaghetti or fettuccine
• butter
• 0.5 cup heavy cream
• 0.5 tbsp garlic
• oregano
• 0.33 cup white wine (Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc)
• lemon or lemon juice
• red pepper flakes
• mussels
• squid
• shrimp
• clams
• lobster

Method

Salt your pasta water generously — it's your only seasoning opportunity for the pasta itself — and bring it to a rolling boil. Add spaghetti or fettuccine and cook to true al-dente, where the centre still resists the tooth. Reserve 200ml of cooking water before draining; you'll use the starch to bind the sauce.

Whilst the pasta cooks, prepare your seafood. If using frozen specimens, defrost them fully and pat dry — moisture prevents proper browning and releases into the pan, diluting your sauce. Slice squid into rings about 5mm thick. Leave shrimp and small clams whole. Halve larger clams or lobster tail; mussels can go untouched. Mince the garlic finely; half a tablespoon is roughly 7–8 grams, and you want it to dissolve into the butter rather than stay as distinct fragments.

Place a large, heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat and add 60g butter. Once foaming subsides but before it colours, add the garlic and cook for 45 seconds only — garlic burns quickly and turns bitter, which ruins a delicate butter-sauce. Add your squid first, as it needs the longest cooking. Sauté for 90 seconds, then introduce the clams and mussels, followed 30 seconds later by the shrimp. Season with oregano (half a teaspoon), red pepper flakes (pinch), and salt. Pour in the white wine — Sauvignon Blanc works better than Pinot Grigio here; its higher acidity cuts through the richness — and let it reduce by half, about 2 minutes. The alcohol volatilises, leaving only flavour.

Add the cream and stir through. The sauce should loosen slightly; if it tightens, add cream in 30ml increments. Taste and adjust salt. The seafood is done when the clams and mussels have opened (discard any that stay sealed after 3 minutes) and the squid is just opaque — any longer and it toughens. This should take no more than 8–10 minutes from pan to plate.

Tip the drained pasta into the pan and toss hard for 30 seconds. Add a splash of pasta water if the sauce clings too thickly; the starch emulsifies the fat and cream, creating seafood-cookery|a cohesive coating, not a pool of liquid at the base. Finish with lemon juice to brightness — half a lemon, squeezed — and a sliver of cold butter swirled through off the heat. Serve immediately in warm bowls.