Seafood Puttanesca is not an uncommon dish on restaurant menus in my area. Rhode Island is known for seafood, and we have a large Italian population in the state, so various spicy tomato based seafood dishes are quite popular. While I enjoy the bold flavors of Puttanesca sauce, it can be a bit salty for me. I tried a few simple substitutions in this recipe, which reduce the sodium considerably, but still kept things flavorful.
In this reduced sodium Seafood Puttanesca recipe, lemon juice and minced rind stand in for capers, as there is already seafood in the dish, anchovies were skipped, and fresh cured green olives were used, which are not as salty the standard fare used in cocktails and some other varieties.
*Cod in recipe is not visible in photo. I had guests that evening, so shot was taken the next day of leftover Puttanesca over new pasta. The fish was popular 🙂
- 1/4 lemon fresh
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 onion sliced vertically
- 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves substitute 6-8 fresh chopped basil leaves if you prefer
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 28 oz crushed tomatoes can
- 1 cup reduced sodium stock
- 1/4 cup red wine
- 1 tbs balsamic vinegar
- 1 cup green olives fresh packed or other lower sodium type
- 2 lbs small clams in shell
- 1/2 lb raw jumbo shrimp shell-on
- 1 lb cod or other mild firm fleshed white fish
- 1/2 lb dry linguine or spaghetti
- De-seed and squeeze the juice out of lemon wedges. Reserve the juice. Mince the remaining rind, set aside.
- Place oil in large deep fry pan or dutch oven, over med-high heat.
- Once hot add garlic and onion, once they have a little color add the thyme, lemon rind and pepper seeds. Cook for a minute.
- Add the tomatoes, lemon juice, stock, wine and balsamic. Cover and reduce heat to low-med. Simmer the Puttanesca sauce for 20 minutes.
- Put on water for pasta. Once it comes to boil start pasta, and place cod clams and olives, into sauce. Recover, and bring heat back up to medium.
- After 5 minutes, add the shrimp (if shell is removed wait another minute or two).
- The clams should open right about the time when the pasta is ready. Take sauce off stove and serve once clams have opened.
I left shrimp in shell, but if you prefer more tidy eating (especially if you have guests) remove most of shell, just leaving tail portion on.
HilLesha says
Wow, this looks really good!
Rachel @ Following In My Shoes says
The saltiness is one of the main reasons I’ve never enjoyed puttanesca sauce either…. but my husband adores it. I may have to try this as a compromise! 😉
Kelly @ A Girl Worth Saving says
This looks delish. I need to eat more seafood 🙂
Christi @ The Thriftynistas says
This looks so delish and love that it’s lower in sodium since I’m expecting.
Kathleen says
Yum! Will definitely be giving this a try.
Penelope says
I’ve never tried a seafood version, this looks great.
Colleen says
My husband would love this, he loves most seafood meals.
Lolo says
THat looks absolutely amazing!
Stefani says
I would love to try this!
Leilani says
That looks yummy!
Deborah Rosen says
This looks really delicious! While I can’t eat it (seafood allergy), I’ll be sharing it with my parents. I wanted to comment to say thank you for offering a lower sodium dish. As someone on a reduced-sodium diet, I appreciate it a lot!
Crystal @ Simply Being Mommy says
Seriously, that looks delicious. I wanna lick my screen right now, but my kids would probably laugh 😉
Maryann says
sounds wonderful but my husband would balk without the anchovies.
Mary @ Fit and Fed says
I never thought of there being more and less salty varieties of olives, but it makes sense, and it’s good to know that the fresh packed green ones would be the best for minimizing sodium. I like the idea of the fresh lemon juice in your version of puttanesca sauce, too.