Pasta baked with mixed seafood in a creamy white béchamel sauce. It's like a gratin made with pasta - which is why I describe this as French-ish! The key to getting gorgeous flavour in the sauce is searing the seafood in the skillet first, then making the sauce in the same skillet to soak up all those seafood flavours!
Recipe by Nagi | RecipeTin Eats on August 3, 2016
Prep time: PT5M
Cook time: PT30M
Total time: PT35M
Rating
4.9 stars (37 reviews)
Ingredients
7 oz / 200 g macaroni or other pasta of choice
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil (, separated)
1 lb / 500 g mixed raw seafood ((Marinara seafood mix) (Note 1))
2 leeks (, white and pale green part only finely sliced)
2 garlic cloves (, minced)
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
2 1/2 cups milk
1 chicken bouillon cube ((or 1 1/2 tsp chicken stock powder) OR 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese)
3/4 cup panko
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese ((high recommended))
Finely chopped fresh parsley ((optional))
Categories
Dinner
Cuisine
French-ish
Steps
Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
Cook pasta according to packet directions. Drain and pour into baking dish.
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a skillet over very high heat. Add seafood and sear for 30 seconds, turn then sear the other side for 30 seconds (should still be raw inside). Remove into baking dish.
Return pan to stove, add remaining 1/2 tbsp oil and turn down to medium. Cook leeks and garlic for 3 minutes or until soft. Add to baking dish.
Mix pasta, seafood and leeks together in the baking dish.
Melt butter in the skillet. Add flour and mix into the butter. Cook for 1 minute,
Add 1 cup of milk and use a whisk to combine - it will thicken quickly. Add remaining milk and bouillon cube (crumbled) and whisk to combine. Cook, whisking occasionally at first then constantly as it thickens, for around 5 minutes or until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon (see photo in post). Season with salt and pepper.
Pour into the baking dish. Top with panko and parmesan.
Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, or until the top is golden.
Rest for 5 minutes before serving, garnished with fresh parsley if desired.
I served this with garlic spinach (Note 2).
Nutitrion
Serving Size: 339 g
Calories: 514 kcal
Carbohydrates: 56.9 g
Protein: 33.2 g
Fat: 17.5 g
Saturated Fat: 8.1 g
Cholesterol: 81 mg
Sodium: 448 mg
Sugar: 9.1 g
Reviews
Mindy on 2026-01-07 (5 stars): This is just what I was looking for.. A couple hints (you probably know. I use San Marzano tomatoes DOM Italy. They are not acidy. Simmer for 35-45 minutes then add a stick of butter. Also, White Lily bread flour which gives you way lighter sauces. (I started with tomato gravy which sometimes turns out heavy. No matter how long you cook the roux. ) And since I use fewer shrimp, I use a "platter" of snacking shrimp. Man are they named right. I snack on them while I cook. Keep the recipes coming! Now a seafood recipe with rice please?
Linda on 2026-01-02 (5 stars): We just made this for supper and it is so delicious, Thanks for such a tasty recipe, We will sure be making it again. We used a mixture of fresh cod,shrimp and a few scallops. We didnt have leeks so we used onion and the rest is like you have it in the recipe.
Rose Torounoglou on 2025-12-05 (4 stars): A lovely meal to share. I didn't have enough milk, (only 1 cup) so I kept some of the pasta water, and used that instead of the seafood broth, ith the cream
Dave Jenkins on 2025-11-07 (5 stars): I've made this many times now, sooooo good. I put fresh salmon in as well. You are my guru Nagi xxxx
Amber on 2025-09-08 (4 stars): We really liked this. I doubled the recipe so we'd have leftovers for lunches. We used Old Bay in the sauce for flavor which worked well. I will try breadcrumbs for the topping next time.
Rachel B on 2025-08-31 (5 stars): So delicious even the picky eaters were happy to eat this as it wasn’t too rich/creamy.
It was use what we have Sunday so I used prawns & a bit of seafood highlighter & corn from the freezer & leftover pasta that was in the fridge from earlier in the week.
Next time I’ll make sure I have pre-prepped prawns rather than whole ones in their shells (they where in the freezer & needed to be used but took so long to prep) & add shredded baby spinach
Debra Caroline McCallum on 2025-07-19 (5 stars): OMG yet another delicious EASY meal!! Hubby absolutely raved about it and the best thing was there was enough leftovers for the next night's dinner!!!! I used frozen marinara mix and let it thaw before using.
Gill on 2025-04-20 (5 stars): Delicious
Louise on 2025-04-10 (5 stars): Hi Nagi,
Made this tonight and made a couple of changes.
Added 6 cloves of garlic, because we are garlic addicts.
Added 5 japapeno's, finely sliced and half milk and cream for the sauce.
Didn't have leeks, so used 1 pink Roscoff onion.
Turned out beautifully.
Looking at other comments, I think we're blessed in the UK with plenty of 'foreign' food stores.
Louise
Alicia on 2024-11-16 (5 stars): Yum! Another winner, thanks Nagi! Was looking for a recipe to use a smoked trout (Coles sell whole ones for about $11, great value) and thought I’d give this a go - added some capers to the mix and topping for a little extra zing.
Wendy Knox on 2024-05-22 (5 stars): I used up what I had in the fridge and freezer, e.g. garlic butter, spring onions, seafood mix and a salmon fillet. I also had some 'pea pasta' macaroni shapes to try. I didnt have panko, so crumbed some spelt bread and mixed it with grated parmesan. It made a very indulgent tasting but healthy dinner and will be a regular! Thank you Nagi!
KAye on 2024-05-04 (4 stars): Good way to use up the left over marinara, surprisingly creamy without much cheese
FranW on 2024-04-10 (5 stars): Can I give this six stars? Seven?
I made it with prawns and monkfish (avoiding some seafood allergies) and used a prawn stock (boiled up prawn shells and saved the water). I topped it with panko and aged cheddar because I got the parm out of the fridge and set it down and then couldn't find it (found it three hours later inside the silverware drawer, WTF?). But it was a huge hit, everyone wanted to take home the leftovers, and I'll def make this again and again and again.
Noush on 2024-01-18 (5 stars): Once again, this is a winner! I made it dairy free and it tasted awesome, so easy too. For the marinara, I used salmon, prawns and calamari. Thanks very much.
Preeya Rook on 2024-01-03 (5 stars): Needed a quick 40min meal while WFH today. Easiest meal was the Seafood gratin pasta bake but in the airfryer - 180° around 10mins
It helps that the pasta and seafood has been cooked on the stove and you can tidy up while it bakes in the airfryer 💯 then back to work. The house smells divine!!
Bess Norman on 2023-11-10 (5 stars): I have made this twice. I use shrimp, scallops, cod and salmon. I’m addition to the recipe as given, I use a small bottle of clam juice and a small container of cream. It is delicious and I will continue to make it whenever we want seafood pasta. We love it. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Linda Shaw on 2023-10-29 (5 stars): Fantastic meal. Added the chopped spinach with the leeks etc. My hubby favourite so far. Definitely a keeper.
