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We love Bucca’s Linguine Frutti di Marre so much that we decided to make this Bucca-inspired Linguine Frutti di Mare at home. It’s so good and flavorful.
My first Italian meal when I first set foot on Minnesota was linguine frutti di mare or known as seafood pasta at Buca di Beppo and I can tell you it has been my all-time favorite ever since. Every time we go to Buca, that’s pretty much what we order 90% of the time. We are seafood enthusiasts and linguine frutti di mare is just so perfect for us. Even now almost 5 years later, with two kids, all of us love this dish…so much.. that I decided I wanted to try making my own. It took me several round to get the sauce to the consistency and taste like the one we had at Buca, and at this last trial, my husband said “I think you’ve nailed it” And I think I got it, about 90% probably ? It sure tasted good.
The linguine frutti di mare at Buca is served with mussels, clams, calamari, and shrimp. I didn’t do calamari, but I got a hold of delicious lobster meat and decided to do lobster and shrimp instead. It was very tasty too. Getting the sauce right is the key of course and I’m excited now that we can have linguine frutti di mare whenever we want at home 😉
This dish will definitely impressed if they enjoy eating seafood. It doesn’t take too much time (well…peeling the garlic wasn’t my favorite part, but it’s not horrible either) and the result is delicious!!!!
Linguine Frutti di Mare (Bucca Di Beppo-inspired)
Ingredients
Clam sauce:
- 12 oz fresh Roma tomatoes quartered
- 2 bulbs garlic peeled and smashed
- 1 small onion peeled and diced
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 ½ Tbsp tomato paste
- 6.5 oz minced clam with its juice
- 1 Tbsp sugar adjust to your taste
- Salt to taste
Other ingredients:
- 1 lb linguine
- 12 oz cooked lobster meat
- 1 lb large shrimp peeled and deveined
Optional:
- Some crusty Baguette or bread to dip the sauce
Instructions
Cook the pasta:
- Cook the linguine as directed on package. Reserve about 1 cup of the cooking water and drain off the rest
Prepare the sauce:
- Preheat a large skillet and add 3 Tbsp of olive oil and saute the smashed garlic and onion until the onions are soft and caramelized a bit, about 3 minutes or so, until they smell really good.
- Transfer the sauteed onions and garlic into a food processor or blender and blend into a puree.
- To the same skillet, add the shrimp and saute until they turn opaque and dish them out and set aside. Add the tomato paste and saute for about 1 minute. Pour in the tomato puree mixture. Bring to a boil and then add the minced clam with its juice, sugar and pinch of salt. Bring it back to a boil and have a taste. The sauce should be savory, garlicky with some hint of sweetness but not too sweet
Put everything together:
- Add the lobster meat and give it a light stir and add the cooked linguine and about 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water to help loosen the pasta a bit and toss to mix everything. You may add more of the reserved pasta water if needed. The clam sauce should be somewhat a bit loose but not runny. Turn off the heat and transfer to a large serving platter and serve family style
*Nutrition facts are just estimates and calculated using online tools*
Did you make this Linguine Frutti Di Mare recipe?
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5 comments
Followed the recipe precisely as written but did add fresh squid. The sauce is WILDLY too sweet. The puréed sauce is a fine idea, but I’d highly recommend both cooking the onion first (resulting sauce still had too strong of a raw onion flavor) and cutting the sugar down to 1 tbsp and taste from there.
OMG!! I’m soo happy to find your recipe. This was also my favorite go-to dish at Buco Di Pepo. I haven’t had this dish is years probably close to 10 years since I moved to Germany and I can’t believe how easy it was to make and affordable. I altered the recipe a bit by add a bit more tomato paste and some ketchup 😋 to help balance out the sweetness and tang for me. When making ther slurry I thought it was soo garlicy and too saucy but I trusted your process and It turned out sooo amazing. Thanks for your recipe. This is gonna be save for my forever recipe.
Hi Vannary, I’m so happy to know that this hits home for you 🙂 It is our favorite dish to order too! Thank you for taking time to let me know 🙂
I tried your recipe a couple of months ago and it’s spot on to Bucca’s Linguini Frutti di Mare. I will be making it again tomorrow!
Hi Ver, I’m happy to know that it’s similar to Bucca’s. I love Bucca’s Frutti di Mare too. Now you make me want to do the same tomorrow ha..ha..!