Black Witches’ Hair Spaghetti with Sea Monster Sauce

Photo of witches' hair pastaWithout the title, it’s squid ink pasta with seafood sauce, but whenever I look at black spaghetti I see witches’ hair. Sometimes I eat this with garlic olive oil and a sprinkling of parmesan cheese – in which case I think of it as witches’ hair with dandruff.

This is possibly why I get on so well with my 7 year old godson.

Black Witches’ Hair Spaghetti with Sea Monster Sauce (serves 2)

2/3 packet of black squid ink spaghetti
1 cup of shrimp – peeled (I leave some with their heads on since it’s Halloween and they look more monster-ish)
1 cup of calamari – the tentacles look particularly spooky (I buy this frozen and defrost it for 15 minutes on the counter top before using)
1 tbsp olive oil (or chili oil if you have it)
2 cloves of garlic
½ cup of white wine
1 handful parsley
Salt and pepper

  • Bring a large pan of water to the boil, salt well ( about 1 tbsp), return to the boil and add the pasta.
  • Cook according to the packet directions – for dried I usually stop cooking a minute less than the packet time to make sure it’s al dente, for fresh, I usually knock off 30 seconds or so.
  • While the pasta is cooking:
  • Shrimp for witches' hair pasta dishRinse the shrimps and the calamari, and de-vein the shrimps. You do this by cutting into their backs and scraping out the black vein
  • Mince or grate the garlic, chop up the parsley and set aside
  • When there’s about 2 minutes to go on the pasta:
  • Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add the minced garlic
  • Toss in the calamari and the shrimps and stir for a minute – the shrimp will turn bright pink
  • Pour in the wine and let it reduce for a minute, then add a small ladle-ful of pasta water
  • Drain the pasta and toss into the frying pan
  • Top with the parsley and season with salt and lots of black pepper

This recipe originally appeared with a Halloween tale of ghosts in old Broadway.

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