P
Italian · Campania, Amalfi Coast
Scialatielli ai Frutti di Mare Amalfitani
Amalfi Coast's signature pasta format — wide, short, irregular-edged fresh pasta made with flour, eggs, and fresh basil, tossed with a seafood stew of clams, mussels, shrimp, and squid in white wine, garlic, cherry tomatoes, and parsley. Scialatielli were invented in Amalfi in 1978 by chef Enrico Cosentino — a genuinely modern dish now embedded in the regional canon. The basil in the pasta dough, combined with the seafood broth, produces a flavour combination unique to this coastline.
I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
For the scialatielli dough
300 g
tipo 00 flour
Your own market
2
eggs
Your own market
1 large handful
fresh basil leaves
blended directly into the dough
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
For the seafood
500 g
clams
purged of sand
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
500 g
mussels
scrubbed and debearded
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
250 g
shrimp
shell-on
Your own market
250 g
squid
cleaned and cut into rings
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
For the sauce
200 g
150 ml
dry white wine
Furore Bianco or Falanghina preferred
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
3
garlic cloves
finely sliced
Your own market
1 strip
lemon zest
pared with no pith
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1 small bunch
flat-leaf parsley
roughly chopped
Your own market
60 ml
extra-virgin olive oil
Your own market
Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
II
The Method
1
Blend the basil leaves with the eggs until the mixture is uniformly green. Combine with the flour and work to a smooth, firm dough. The dough will be green at first and will begin to oxidise to grey — this is expected and does not affect flavour. Wrap and rest for 30 minutes at room temperature until the dough relaxes under gentle thumb pressure.
2
Divide the dough into manageable portions. Roll each to a thickness of roughly 3–4 mm. Cut strips 8–10 cm long and 5 mm wide, then tear the long edges irregularly rather than trimming them clean. The torn edges must be visibly ragged — this irregular surface is what allows scialatielli to absorb seafood broth. Set aside on a lightly floured surface.
3
Warm the olive oil in a wide, deep pan over a high flame. Add the garlic and the lemon zest strip and cook until the garlic is just golden and fragrant — do not allow it to brown further. Add the clams and mussels together with the white wine. Cover immediately and cook for 1 minute, shaking the pan once, until the shells open. This is where the dish lives or dies: keep every drop of the liquid released — this briny, concentrated juice is the entire sauce; discard nothing and remove no shells without tipping their liquid back into the pan.
4
Add the halved cherry tomatoes and cook uncovered for no more than 3 minutes — they must soften and begin to blister at the edges but must retain their fresh, sweet character. An over-reduced, jammy tomato will destroy the balance of the broth.
5
Add the shrimp to the pan and cook for 1 minute, turning once, until they are just opaque at the collar. Add the squid last and cook for 30 seconds only — the rings should curl slightly and turn from translucent to just white. Remove the pan from the heat immediately.
6
Meanwhile, cook the scialatielli in well-salted boiling water for 2–3 minutes until just short of al dente — the pasta should still offer resistance at the centre when bitten. Reserve a ladleful of pasta water before draining.
From the canon — Pasta cooking water contains dissolved starch (released from the pasta surface during boiling) at a concentration that increases with pasta-to-water ratio an… Pasta Water: Starch Concentration and Sauce Binding →
7
Transfer the drained pasta directly into the seafood pan. Return to a medium flame and toss for 2 minutes, adding a splash of pasta water as needed, until the pasta has absorbed the broth and the sauce clings to every torn edge. Taste for salt. Scatter with parsley and serve immediately in the pan.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Wild Amalfi-coast clams and Cetara mussels, shrimp from the Gulf of Salerno, squid fished the same morning; Furore Bianco in the sauce; basil cut from the plant minutes before mixing the dough.
02
Estate — Live clams and mussels from a known dayboat supplier; Falanghina del Sannio in the pan; basil from a kitchen pot; cherry tomatoes of the Vesuvio or Piennolo variety.
03
Market — Good fishmonger clams and mussels, fresh shell-on shrimp and cleaned squid; any dry southern Italian white wine; supermarket basil used the same day.
04
House — Frozen clams and mussels thoroughly thawed and drained; frozen raw shrimp; a neutral dry white; dried basil worked into the dough — the format is preserved though the flavour will be flatter.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Touch. Rested dough yields softly under a pressed thumb without snapping back — it is ready to roll.
◇Sight. Torn pasta edges are visibly ragged and irregular — not knife-clean — confirming the surface texture that absorbs the broth.
◇Sound. The clatter of opening shells subsides and the pan steams freely — all clams and mussels have opened after 1 minute under the lid.
◇Sight. Cherry tomato skins blister and the flesh softens but holds its shape — 3 minutes maximum; no further reduction.
◇Sight. Squid rings are just white and slightly curled at 30 seconds — remove the pan from heat the moment this point is reached.
◇Touch. Pasta bitten at the centre still offers a thread of resistance before the final 2 minutes in the seafood pan.
◇Sight. After finishing in the pan, the sauce clings to the pasta with no pool of liquid left at the base — the broth has been fully absorbed.
◇Where it lives or dies. The dish lives or dies at the moment the clams and mussels open: every drop of the released seafood liquid must be retained, for it is the sauce entire — discard it and the dish is lost.
Pillar V
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VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Fortified wine
From British Columbia
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Without alcohol
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The whole pairingPillar VII
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