Seafood Pasta Bake

There was a Wednesday night when I opened the fridge to find half a bag of shrimp, a few scallops, and some mussels I'd picked up without a solid plan. My kitchen felt too quiet, and I wanted something that would fill the apartment with the smell of garlic and cream. That's when this seafood pasta bake came together—not from a recipe book, but from the simple logic of combining what I had with pasta and letting the oven do the work. The result was golden, bubbling, and somehow both elegant and completely effortless.

I made this for someone I was trying to impress—nothing too obvious, just a casual dinner that happened to involve what looked like real effort. They came back for seconds and asked for the recipe, and I realized I'd found something that bridges the gap between weeknight cooking and feeling like you've done something special. Now it's the dish I turn to when I want to cook without stress but still want the satisfaction of something genuinely delicious.

Ingredients

• Penne or rigatoni: Use 300g total, and here's the key detail that changed everything for me—cook it two minutes under the package time so it finishes properly in the oven without turning mushy.
• Mixed seafood: I use shrimp, mussels, squid, and scallops because the variety keeps things interesting, but honestly, whatever you have works; just make sure it's thawed if frozen.
• Olive oil: 2 tbsp is enough to build flavor without making the dish feel heavy.
• Onion and garlic: 1 small onion finely chopped and 2 minced garlic cloves form the foundation; don't skip this step even though it seems simple.
• Canned chopped tomatoes: 400g gives you the body of the sauce without needing to spend time reducing fresh tomatoes.
• Heavy cream: 150ml softens the tomato's edge and makes everything taste like you spent more time than you actually did.
• Tomato paste: 2 tbsp deepens the tomato flavor in a way that feels almost like a secret ingredient.
• Dried oregano: 1 tsp ties the whole thing to its Italian roots.
• Chili flakes: A half teaspoon if you like a whisper of heat, though it's completely optional and won't hurt if you skip it.
• Salt and black pepper: Taste as you go because seafood and cream are both subtle, and they need proper seasoning to shine.
• Mozzarella: 100g grated melts into those golden patches on top.
• Parmesan: 40g adds a salty, nutty note that makes people wonder what you did differently.
• Fresh parsley: 2 tbsp chopped goes on at the very end for color and that fresh herb moment.

Instructions

Start the oven and prep your dish:

Heat to 200°C (400°F) and grease a large baking dish while you're thinking about it; this way it's ready when you need it.

Get pasta going:

Boil salted water and cook your pasta exactly two minutes less than the package says—this was the shift that made everything work.

Build the sauce base:

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, add your chopped onion and cook three minutes until it's soft and sweet, then add garlic for just one minute so it doesn't burn.

Deepen the flavor:

Stir in tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, chili flakes if using, salt, and pepper, then let it bubble gently for ten minutes while you think about whether you want wine in this (I usually do).

Make it creamy:

Pour in the heavy cream and let it simmer for two minutes, then taste and adjust salt and pepper because this is your chance to get it exactly right.

Add the seafood gently:

Fold in your mixed seafood carefully and cook for just two to three minutes until it's opaque but still tender; this is not a place to linger.

Combine everything:

Toss the cooked pasta with the sauce and seafood, then transfer to your waiting baking dish.

Top and bake:

Sprinkle mozzarella and Parmesan evenly over the top and bake for eighteen to twenty minutes until it's bubbling at the edges and golden on top.

Rest and finish:

Let it sit for five minutes so everything sets, then scatter parsley over the top just before you serve it.

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There's a moment when you pull this out of the oven and the cheese is bubbling and golden, and the whole kitchen smells like garlic and the sea, and suddenly cooking feels like the simplest, most satisfying thing in the world. That's when I understood why people love this kind of food—it's not complicated, but it's beautiful.

Why This Dish Feels Special

What makes a seafood pasta bake work is the contrast—tender pasta, creamy sauce, cooked-just-right seafood, and that crispy cheese on top. It's humble enough to cook on a regular Tuesday but impressive enough to feel like something you did on purpose. The oven does most of the heavy lifting, which means you actually get to enjoy having people over instead of standing at the stove the whole time.

Variations and Swaps

Once you know how this works, you can adjust it constantly based on what you have and what you're craving. White wine in the sauce is wonderful if you want to add it—just reduce it slightly before adding the cream so the alcohol burns off. You can swap the cream for crème fraîche or even light cream if you want something less rich, though something about the heaviness of real cream makes this feel more indulgent.

Serving and Pairing

Serve this straight from the baking dish so everyone can see what you made, and pair it with a crisp white wine like Pinot Grigio that cuts through the richness without competing with the seafood. A simple green salad on the side is almost all you need, though fresh bread is never wrong. This serves four comfortably, but honestly, you'll probably want seconds yourself.

• Have some extra parsley on hand to scatter over individual servings if you want to brighten things up at the last second.
• Don't stress about the exact seafood mix—use whatever looks good that day, but avoid anything that feels questionable since raw is not an option here.
• Make sure everyone knows this has shellfish before they eat it, because allergies matter and you want people to feel safe at your table.

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This is the kind of dish that reminds you why cooking is worth doing at all—simple enough to not stress over, impressive enough to feel proud of, and delicious enough that people will ask you to make it again. That's really all that matters.