Dinner in a bag!

Seafood is considered a "luxury" item for usual weeknight dinner, but it doesn't have to be. Seafood is actually one of the easiest and fastest item to make for dinner. The key is picking the freshest products but can also use in combination with good quality frozen items. My go to frozen seafood is frozen black tiger shrimp, I always have that in stock in my freezer, they are great for pasta and stir-fries.

In this recipe, the chosen seafood is steamed to perfection along with the cooked pasta in a parchment bag.  You might have seen this method of cooking in French cooking shows and think that it's too fancy smancy for you to try at home. But don't be fool, there is nothing fancy about this way of cooking at all, in fact, it's a fool proof way to steaming any type of seafood/fish, you really can't go wrong. The parchment bag creates an environment for the seafood to steam in it's own juices, and the yummy juices get absorbed back into the noodles, and everything just mingle in harmony! (Wow, I'm starting to sound like Giada de Laurentiis, never mind if you don't know who I'm talking about! =P) And the best thing is, there is no clean up, no pots/pans to clean at all!

Seafood pasta in a bag
The following ingredients are enough for one bag/serving, yes, it's a very big dinner portion! Hey, why not?!

5 pieces of mussels
5 pieces of clams
5 pieces of scallops (I used tiny bay scallops)
4 pieces of red snapper chunks (any firm fish like salmon, cod will do)
4 pieces of shrimp
1.5 cup of cooked pasta
1 tbsp of butter
1 clove of garlic, sliced
1/4 cup of canned chopped tomatoes (include the sauce with the tomato)
1/4 cup of chicken broth (white wine would be good too)
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
Chopped parsley

1) Preheat oven to 375F
2) Clean all the seafood until running cold water, pat dry and set aside
3) Mix tomatoes, broth and garlic, then toss with cooked and drained pasta
4) Cut out a big piece of parchment paper (see picture) and fold it in half, then cut it into a half circle shape.

5) Lay the pasta in between the paper, place the seafood randomly on top of the pasta, put a piece of butter on top and sprinkle with salt, pepper and parsley.

6) Fold one side on top of the other, and crease around the edge to create a seal. This is an important step to ensure there is enough steam inside the bag to cook the seafood and also keep in the sauce.

7) Bake in oven for 20 - 25 min, it is ready when all the mussels and clams shells are opened (A bit difficult to see through the bag, but you should be able to tell when you take the bag out)
8) Drizzle with olive oil, serve with lemon, and enjoy with a glass of wine!!