Creamy Baked Seafood Ziti

I love seafood and pasta with a white creamy sauce.  This one in unctuous, with scallops and shrimp paired with mushrooms. And it's super guest appropriate leaving you much more free to attend to guests while dinner is cooking, compared to a stove-top prep.

Sauce:

2 Tbsp butter plus 1 Tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced through press

2 Tbsp flour

1/2 cup dry white wine

Liquid from 1 4-oz can mushroom pieces

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 Tbsp capers

1/4 tsp dried dill weed

Seafood Ziti:

1/2 lb scallops (I thawed frozen scallop pieces from Big Y)

1/2 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined, halved at the waist

1/3 lb ziti

Mushroom pieces from 4-oz can

1/3 lb mozzarella cubed (or fresh mozzarella pearl balls)

Topping:

8-10 grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise

1/2 cup panko crumbs (I used Italian flavored)

3 Tbsp butter 

Preheat oven to 375F. Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta.

Melt sauce butter in oil in a small pot. Whisk in the flour and cook over medium heat for about 3-4 minutes, whisking almost constantly. Add the garlic and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Add the wine, mushroom liquid and cream. Bring to a gentle boil, whisking often as sauce thickens. Cover and remove from heat.

Cook pasta until just before al dente. Reserve a cup of pasta cooking water, and then drain pasta. 

Toss pasta into a large bowl and mix in the sauce. Add the scallops, shrimp, mushrooms and cheese

Bake in oven covered for about 20 minutes. 

Melt topping butter in a microwave oven for 30-40 seconds in a small bowl. Stir in panko crumbs.

Reduce heat to 350 and uncover dish. Scatter tomatoes on top of dish and top with panko crumbs. Bake uncovered about another 15 minutes until topping is just browned.

Serves 4.

Cook's Notes: You can use whatever seafood or shellfish, or combination, that strikes your fancy for this dish. For example here I just used scallops and a bit of cod.