A Little Seafood Linguini with Vodka Cream Sauce

There is little that can go wrong when you combine vodka and cream to make a little pasta.  I bought a few seafood items this morning thinking I might make a rice dish of some sort.  In the back of my mind was also the opportunity to use up a couple freezer items, a few large shrimp and some sea scallops.  Paella perhaps... but in the end the lure of cream won.  The response I got from Maggie after finding out we were having seafood linguini with cream sauce was "all I have to know is cream!"  I even got a high five.


1 lb Manila Clams
1/3 lb Fresh Rockfish Fillet
1/3 lb Calamari
1/3 lb Large Shrimp
1/4 lb Sea Scallops
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley 
3/4 cup cream
1.5 oz vodka
salt and pepper to taste


2/3 lb dry linguini
Cook linguini according to package instructions.


In a large saute pan, heat 2 tbsp olive oil over medium heat.  Toss in garlic, stir, then add in clams, wait a minute, then add in rockfish, then shrimp and scallops.  Wait another minute and finish with adding the calamari.  Season with a little salt and pepper and saute for another minute.  You want everything par-cooked.  Then gently remove everything with a slotted spoon into a bowl, reserving the liquid.  Add the cream to the liquid in the pan and bring to a gentle boil.  Once the clams, fish, shrimp etc. have sat for a couple of minutes, more liquid will come out in the bowl.  Add that to the sauce as well.  Add in the vodka and return to a light boil to thicken the sauce slightly.  Not reducing the cream too much will keep the sauce on the lighter side... well as light as cream can be.  Add the seafood back into the sauce and bring back to a light boil for another minute or so until everything is cooked.  Ladle sauce on top of linguini and finish with a sprinkle of fresh parsley.  Surprisingly, the calamari was the favorite item amongst the girls.  And, cream is a wondrous thing.