Liv­ing on an is­land, it’s safe to say that Trin­bag­o­ni­ans are pret­ty fa­mil­iar with seafood. From shrimp to conchs to blue mar­lin, a good piece of meat from the sea is nev­er wast­ed. We usu­al­ly cur­ry, stew or bake our seafood, nev­er ex­plor­ing their full po­ten­tial. This week Chef Rishi is here to help—suc­cu­lent shrimp, juicy clams and flaky, meaty white fish are cel­e­brat­ed in gourmet dish­es with a lo­cal twist. One dish is per­fect for date night while the oth­er is great to treat a crowd. Take ad­van­tage of the gor­geous, fresh seafood around our tiny is­lands and try some­thing a lit­tle dif­fer­ent this week.

SHRIMP AND CLAM LIN­GUI­NI IN CO­CONUT-WHITE WINE BROTH

This pas­ta dish has all the best flavours of the sea with the added salty bite of crisp ba­con bits. Co­conut milk adds a nu­anced, creami­ness while white wine keeps it light and aro­mat­ic. A bowl of pas­ta is nev­er a bad idea. Omit the ba­con and add crisped bread­crumbs for a veg­e­tar­i­an op­tion.

YIELDS 4 Serv­ings

TO­TAL TIME 45 mins

IN­GRE­DI­ENTS

1 400-gram pack­age spaghet­ti

1 pack ba­con

1 ta­ble­spoon but­ter

1 8-ounce pack­age peeled and de­veined frozen shrimp, thawed or, 12 peeled and de­veined fresh shrimp

1 pack frozen clams

⅓ cup white wine

4 cups fresh ba­by spinach

1 cup co­conut milk

1 ta­ble­spoon coarse­ly chopped flat-leaf pars­ley

For the spinach sauce

1 ta­ble­spoon but­ter

4 cloves gar­lic

1 cup spinach

½ cup whip­ping cream

DI­REC­TIONS

1 Cook pas­ta ac­cord­ing to pack­age di­rec­tions; drain and set aside.

2 In a large sauté pan over medi­um heat, cook the ba­con un­til the fat is ren­dered and the strips are crispy.

3 Use a slot­ted spoon to re­move the ba­con and set aside.

4 Add the shrimp to the re­served ba­con fat and cook for 2 min­utes, or un­til pink.

5 Add the clams, spinach and white wine; stir and cook for 1 minute or un­til bub­bly.

6 Stir in the co­conut milk and cook un­til the liq­uid re­duces to half.

7 Toss the cooked pas­ta in­to the pot and stir it up.

8 Set aside and make your sauce.

9 In a small pan over medi­um heat, melt but­ter and gar­lic un­til fra­grant and brown.

10 Add spinach and cook un­til wilt­ed.

11 Pour whip­ping cream in­to the pan and trans­fer the mix­ture to a blender; process un­til smooth.

12 Trans­fer the pas­ta to a large serv­ing bowl. Sprin­kle with crispy ba­con bits and pars­ley and driz­zle with the spinach sauce.