BC Living
Recipe: B.C. Beef and Potatoes
You’ve Gotta Try This in February 2025
Recipe: How to Make Pie Crust from Scratch
Attention, Runners: Here are 19 Road Races Happening in B.C. in Spring 2025
Nature’s Pharmacy: 8 Herbal Boutiques in BC
How Barre Enhances Your Flexibility
Inviting the Steller’s Jay to Your Garden
6 Budget-friendly Holiday Decor Pieces
Dream Home: $8 Million for a Modern Surprise
Local Getaway: Hideaway at a Mystical Earth House in Kootenay
9 BC Wellness Hotels to Relax and Recharge in This Year
Local Getaway: Enjoy Waterfront Views at a Ucluelet Beach House
B.C. Adventures: Things to Do in February
5 Beautiful and Educational Nature and Wildlife Tours in BC
7 Beauty and Wellness Influencers to Follow in BC
11 Gifts for Galentine’s Day from B.C. Companies
14 Cute Valentine’s Day Gifts to Give in 2025
8 Gifts to Give for Lunar New Year 2025
In keeping with my exploration of west coast cuisine, I've tackled a never-before-used ingredient: mussels. I hope you'll give them a try for dinner too; they're quick and easy to cook and absolutely delicious in this tomato and garlic pasta
Using fresh seafood is a must for this gorgeous seafood linguine with mussels
We had friends over for dinner the other night and I wanted to wow them. I have the crazy habit of trying new things when I have company over. It’s exciting and terrifying not knowing how dinner will turn out, and I know we can always order pizza if it’s a big flop.
I feel like Julia Child would approve, as she once said, “The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you’ve got to have a what-the-hell attitude.”
It usually tastes good in the end, but multitasking in the kitchen while entertaining guests isn’t one of my strong points, and it’s likely I will forget a step or ingredient, or make a huge mess.
I’m really embracing west coast cuisine and have been cooking lots of fish and seafood lately:
This meal was no exception, and I turned to one of my favourite new cookbooks for inspiration, That’s Amore: From Ricardo Scebba’s Mediterranean Kitchen (I made the delectable lobster pasta last month) and decided on the Linguine al Mare (seafood linguine).
Luckily it turned out well and I have not only a new recipe but also a new ingredient that I will definitely use again: mussels.
I had never bought or cooked with mussels before that night, and had only ever eaten them a handful of times.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned since moving to Vancouver, it’s go fresh or go home, so I headed to Granville Island’s Seafood City to pick up some fresh fish and seafood. I wanted to buy local products so I settled on Salt Spring Island mussels, local shrimp and local ling cod.
I’ve learned the trick to cooking seafood is not overcooking it, and to always err on the side of underdone as it will continue to cook as you plate it.
The recipe called for cooking the seafood all together but I cooked the mussels in a separate pan and added first the fish and then the shrimp to the simmering tomato sauce to cook them.
Our friends brought a wonderful white wine, Anselmi’s San Vincenzo, which paired perfectly with dinner.
Below are the steps that I followed, which differ slightly from That’s Amore’s seafood linguine.
Ingredients
Serves 4
Instructions