Seafood pasta salad with squid and prawns looks really good served in an earthenware dish but you might consider this too heavy to carry on a picnic.
It should not be served too cold so, although you should transport it in a cooler if it is a very hot day or you have some way to travel, it should then be left for a few minutes to warm in the sun before eating. Think eating al fresco in Italy!
As you “think Italy”, choose a dense, dark greeny-gold, extra virgin olive oil, ripe vine tomatoes and good quality pasta too.
Here are those ingredients:
350g pasta shapes (bows or shells for example)
225g fresh or frozen squid
175g fresh or frozen prawns
a glass of dry white wine
3 tablespoons of the best olive oil you can find
a medium onion, chopped finely
a large clove of garlic
225g fresh, ripe, red tomatoes
10 (or more to taste) black olives, stoned and halved
a lemon
a handful of chopped parsley, flat if possible
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
If you have bought fresh squid, remove the hard bony bits, rinse in cold water and slice into rings. Defrost the prawns if necessary and dry on kitchen paper.
Cook the pasta in plenty of boiling water until al dente, drain well and mix with a tablespoon of olive oil to stop it from sticking.
Put the squid rings in a small saucepan with the wine and simmer gently for about 10 minutes to tenderise. Take out of the wine.
Put the tomatoes into a bowl of boiling water for a few seconds to split the skins, and then remove from the water. Then skin and chop them.
Heat the rest of the oil in a heavy pan and fry the onion gently until transparent but not browning. Then add the crushed garlic and fry again for a couple of minutes.
Turn the heat up under the pan and add the tomatoes, squid and prawns. Cook for a couple of minutes. Do not let the tomatoes disintegrate or stew. The prawns should turn pink all over. (If you have bought cooked, pink ones and not blue uncooked ones, then add them after you have cooked the tomato and squid mixture so that they do not cook again and become tough.)
Add the grated zest of the lemon, salt and pepper to taste and turn off the heat.
Add this mixture to the pasta with the olives and parsley, adding a touch more olive oil if you think it needs it.
Turn the seafood pasta salad into a dish and keep in the fridge until ready to pack for your picnic. Allow to come to room or sunny outside temperature before serving so that the flavours develop and mingle together.
