Seafood linguine has to be one of my all-time favourite pasta recipes. Sweet, juicy lobster chunks and succulent garlic prawns, swimming in a mouthwatering creamy sauce, served on a bed of perfectly cooked linguine. What’s not to love?
Seafood Linguine with prawns and lobster
Seafood linguine has to be my favourite pasta dish – not least because it tastes so delicious. Pair sweet chunks of lobster with juicy butter-fried prawns, cover it with a creamy garlic sauce and serve on a bed of perfectly cooked linguine and you have a meal that wouldn’t be out of place in the finest Italian restaurant.
But it doesn’t just taste good, its so quick and easy to make, you can have it on the table in under 30 minutes. The prawns only take a few minutes to cook, and because the lobster is pre-cooked, all you have to do is remove it from the shell and chop it into chunks.
I first ate seafood linguine at a restaurant on the South Coast of Durban overlooking the Indian Ocean. To be honest, it wasn’t my first choice from the menu. I was hoping to try the freshly-caught Sea Bream, which was the speciality of the day. Unfortunately so did everyone else, and the Sea Bream was sold out!
However, as things turned out, my second choice, the seafood linguine, was one of the best meals I’ve ever tasted. A plate of golden linguine covered in a creamy sauce and packed full of pieces of lobster and prawns. The sweetness of the lobster and prawns permeated the entire dish. And there was just enough garlic to add flavour without being overpowering. I polished off the lot, then mopped up every last drop of the creamy seafood-infused sauce with a piece of garlic bread and sat back feeling very satisfied.
Once I got home I had to try to recreate it, and I think I managed it pretty well. I’ve used pre-cooked lobsters from my local supermarket and I’ve included instructions below on how to crack and prepare them. It’s much easier than you might think. Why not try it for yourself? I’m sure you will agree with me that it’s a pretty tasty dish!
How to make Seafood linguine
Ingredients
Whenever I read a recipe I like to have a look at the ingredients to see whether I have everything I need. To make it easy for you – I’ve listed the ingredients below. You can get the full list of ingredients and quantities in the printable recipe card further down in the post.
This recipe is sufficient for 2 people, but you can easily increase the ingredients to serve more.
Lobsters ready for shelling
- Pre-cooked lobsters – I used 1 per person
- Frozen raw prawns – don’t use the pre-cooked prawns – they are inclined to be rubbery. You can use either shelled or unshelled prawns. If you buy unshelled prawns you will have to peel them before cooking. Also try to get prawns where the heads have already been removed.
- Butter – NOT margarine. This is used for cooking the prawns, and also for making the sauce.
- Cornflour – used for thickening the sauce
- Garlic – of course
- Milk and cream – for the lovely creamy sauce.
- Salt and pepper – for seasoning. As always, this is optional or according to your own taste.
- Linguine – you could use spaghetti if you prefer, or even tagliatelli.
Steps
How to prepare a lobster
To clean and prepare a lobster is easier than you might think.
See the pictures below for a visual demonstration of how to shell the lobsters, or just follow my easy steps.
Separate the head from the tail Remove the tail fins Cut through the underside with a pair of sharp scissors Open the tail and remove the meat The tail looks like a small snail Claws need cracking I found it easiest to use a hammer Remove the meat from the claws
- Defrost the lobster – you can do this by letting it defrost naturally in the refrigerator. If you are in a hurry you can put it in cold water in the sink.
- Separate the tail from the head. To do this, grasp the head in one hand and the tail in the other hand and twist. The head and tail should separate easily.
- Remove the fins from the tail. Bend the fins backwards and they will come off.
- Take a sharp pair of scissors and cut through the underside of the tail shell.
- Using two hands, open the tail and remove the meat. It doesn’t matter if you break it, the meat will be chopped into chunks before it goes into the sauce anyway.
- You will see from the picture above that the lobster tail meat resembles a small snail.
- There is a lot of meat in the claws, so the next step is to remove this meat. Lobster claws are very hard and there are special tools available for cracking them. I don’t have one, and I found it easiest to use a small hammer.
- Tap gently on the lobster claw with the hammer until the claw cracks sufficiently to enable you to open the claw and remove the meat.
- Cut the lobster tail and claw meat into bite-sized pieces.
- There is also edible meat in the legs, but we don’t need that for this recipe. You can pick the meat out of the legs and eat it if you wish.
Lobster and prawns
Fry the prawns
Defrost the prawns. You can let them defrost in the fridge or if you are in a hurry, pop them in a bowl of cold water.
- If you are using unshelled prawns, you will have to peel them.
- Pull off the head if it hasn’t already been removed. Using a pair of sharp scissors, cut a slit all the way down the back.
- Peel the shell away and discard.
- Using a sharp knife, remove the dark vein from the back of the prawn. This is the alimentary canal and whilst it won’t harm you to eat it, it is not very appealing.
- Cut the shelled prawns into three or four pieces (depending on the size of the prawns).
Fry the prawns in butter and garlic
- Melt the butter in a work or large frying pan and add the garlic. Saute gently until the garlic softens. Do not allow the garlic to brown or it will become bitter. Use a low heat.
- Add the prawns and stirfry until they turn pink and are cooked through. This will only take a couple of minutes.
- Remove the prawns from the pan and set aside.
Make the sauce
Melt butter and add milk and cornflour Add the cream Add the prawns and lobster
- Melt the butter in the same pan.
- Mix the cornflour into milk and stir well to remove any lumps.
- Add the milk and cornflour mixture to the melted butter and stir until it thickens.
- Season with salt and pepper to your own taste.
- Stir for a minute to allow the cornflour to cook then add the cream.
- Stir in the chopped prawns and lobster and allow them to heat through.
- Serve over a bowl of freshly cooked linguine.
Cook the linguine
- Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and add 1 teaspoon salt.
- Place the linguine in the boiling water and allow to boil for approximately 10 minutes until cooked. Read and follow the exact instructions on the packet of the pasta that you are using.
- Drain through a colander and serve.
Equipment
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You probably have all of this equipment in your kitchen already. In case you are missing something, I’ve included some handy links to items on Amazon that you may find useful.
- Wok or large frying pan
- Lobster cracker (or you can use a hammer!).
- Saucepan – for the pasta
- Colander – for draining the pasta
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Can I freeze seafood linguine?
Yes you can freeze seafood linguine.
Place the cooled sauce in an airtight container and place in the freezer for up to 3 months.
To use, allow it to defrost in the fridge, then tip the contents of the container into a saucepan and reheat until piping hot and serve immediately.
Do not refreeze a second time.
How do I make a larger portion?
There are a number of ways you can make a larger portion of this meal.
Double the ingredient quantities for the sauce. Then you can either double up on the prawns and lobster OR defrost a 350g bag of frozen cooked seafood mix and add to the sauce with the prawns and lobster.
Related Recipes
If you enjoyed this recipe why not browse through my other supper recipes, or try this garlic prawn stirfry for a quick and easy meal.
Irish Seafood Chowder is a deliciously warming soup – made from a traditional Irish recipe I sourced from a restaurant in Ireland.
Garlic prawn stirfry Irish Seafood Chowder
Recipe – Seafood Linguine
Seafood linguine with prawns and lobster
Ingredients
- 2 medium pre-cooked frozen lobsters
- 200 g frozen raw king prawns headless and shell-less if possible
- 50 g butter for frying the prawns
- 2 cloves garlic finely chopped or minced
- 75 g butter for sauce
- 1 cup (250 ml) milk
- 100 ml single or pouring cream
- 25 g cornflour
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Defrost the prawns and the lobsters
- Remove the meat from the lobster tails and claws and chop into bite-sized pieces
- Peel and clean the prawns (if using unshelled prawns)
- Chop the prawns into 3 or 4 pieces (depending on the size of the prawns)
- Heat 50g butter in a wok or frying pan and add the garlic. Saute slowly to allow the garlic to soften.
- Add the prawns and continue to cook until the prawns have turned pink and are cooked through.
- Remove the prawns from the wok and set aside.
- In the same pan, melt an additional 75g butter.
- Mix the cornflour into the milk and stir to remove any lumps. Add to the butter and stir over a low heat until thickened.
- Season with salt and black pepper to taste
- Pour in the cream, stir well, then add the prawns and lobster pieces and continue stirring until welll heated through.
- Bring a pan of salted water to the boil. Then add the pasta and allow to boil until cooked to your taste. Drain through a colander.
- Place a mound of linguine on a plate, top with the sauce, and enjoy.
Notes
I am not a nutritionist. The nutrition information has been calculated using an on-line calculator, and is intended for information and guidance purposes only. If the nutrition information is important to you, you should consider calculating it yourself, using your preferred tool.
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