Olive Garden Seafood Torcello
Submitted by caibo579
Olive Garden copycat seafood Torcello with cod, clams, shrimp, and crab in a garlic-sherry bechamel sauce tossed with radiatore pasta. A rich, restaurant-style seafood pasta you can make at home.
YIELD
4 servingsPREP
15 minCOOK
35 minREADY
50 minThis Olive Garden copycat brings together four types of seafood in a garlicky, sherry-laced bechamel that coats every ridge of the pasta. Cod, chopped clams, langostinos (or shrimp), and crab meat all go into one creamy, luxurious sauce.
The cod bakes briefly until just flaky, then gets broken into chunks. Baking it separately means it stays in distinct pieces rather than disintegrating into the sauce. That’s a detail most copycat recipes skip, and it makes a real difference in texture.
The bechamel starts like any roux-based white sauce: butter, flour, milk. But the garlic gets sautéed separately in olive oil, and the sherry simmers in that same garlic-fragrant pan before both get stirred into the warm sauce. This layered approach builds far more flavor than just dumping everything into one pot.
Radiatore or spirelli pasta catches the thick sauce in all its nooks and crannies.
Pro Tips
- Use straight sherry, not dry. The sweetness balances the brininess of the clams and crab.
- Cook the roux for the full 3 minutes without browning. This cooks out the raw flour taste while keeping the sauce white.
- Sauté garlic only until white throughout, not golden. Browned garlic turns bitter in a cream sauce.
- Add the seafood at the very end on low heat. Overcooking makes clams rubbery and crab tough.
Variations
- Add a pinch of red pepper flakes to the garlic for subtle heat.
- Substitute scallops for the langostinos for a sweeter, more delicate bite.
- Finish with a squeeze of lemon juice for brightness that cuts through the richness.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400.
Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.
Bake the cod fillets, uncovered, for 5 to 6 minutes, only until the cod flakes easily.
Remove from the oven immediately to prevent overcooking.
Whel cooled, break the fillets in half, lengthwise, then break each half into approximately 1 inch pieces and set aside.
SAUCE-In a heavy non-aluminum 3-qt pot, melt the butter, add the flour and cook on moderate heat for 3 minutes, stirring constantly with a wire whisk.
Do not allow the flour to brown.
Add the milk and salt and bring to just below the boiling point, whisking constantly.
Remove from the heat and keep warm (180~). Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat until fragrant, then sauté the garlic only until white throughout.
Add the sautéed garlic to the warm bechamel sauce.
Add the sherry to the pan in which the garlic was sautéed, simmer strongly for 1 minute, then add it to the warmed sauce.
Add the cooked pasta to the sauce. Place the bechamel/garlic/pasta/sherry mix back onto low heat for a few minutes, then add the cooked cod, clams, langostinos or shrimp, crabmeat and chopped parsley to the warm bechamel sauce and blend all ingredients thoroughly.
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