Seafood Puttanesca is a spicy seafood pasta in red sauce with shrimp, cod, clams, olives and capers. It is an easy recipe to prepare at home, but is perfect for a special dinner.
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 🙂
What is Seafood Puttanesca?
Seafood Pasta 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.
Less Sodium
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.
Popular Additions
Toss in some sliced calamari, some anchovy fillets or scallops. These would be added late in cooking like the shrimp.
Serving
Rather than white wine, I suggest you serve this spicy seafood pasta dish with a nice Chianti or Zinfandel, since the sauce is stronger in flavor than the milder seafoods.
Salad with a simple vinaigrette dressing before or after the pasta would be great. A nice crusty bread dipped in extra virgin olive oil seasoned with herbs and just a few crushed red pepper flakes on the side would be wonderful as well.
Seafood Puttanesca Pasta Recipe
Ingredients
- ¼ lemon fresh
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ½ onion sliced vertically
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves substitute 6-8 fresh chopped basil leaves if you prefer
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 28 ounces crushed tomatoes can
- 1 cup reduced sodium stock
- ¼ cup red wine
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 cup green olives fresh packed or other lower sodium type
- 2 pounds small clams in shell
- ½ pound raw jumbo shrimp shell-on
- 1 pound cod or other mild firm fleshed white fish
- ½ pound dry linguine or spaghetti
Instructions
- De-seed and squeeze the juice out of lemon wedges. Reserve the juice. Mince the remaining rind, set aside.
- Place olive 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 1-2 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, lemon juice, stock, wine and balsamic. Cover and reduce heat to low-med. Simmer the Puttanesca sauce for 20 minutes.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil start pasta. Once pasta is started place cod, clams and olives into the tomato sauce. Replace cover and bring heat back up to medium.
- After 5 minutes, add the shrimp (if shell is removed wait another minute or two).
- When clams open take the sauce off the burner. The pasta should be al dente by now, so the pasta water needs to be drained.
- Put the pasta in large bowl and top with the spicy sauce. Serve.
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.
Penelope says
I've never tried a seafood version, this looks great.
Lolo says
THat looks absolutely amazing!
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.
Stefani says
We loved this puttanesca. I never thought to watch the sodium in this dish, but it makes sense. Will make again.
Colleen says
My husband would loved this, he loves most seafood meals, but I loved how easy this was.