Woodbury chef shares Valentine’s recipe perfect for Lent

With Lent starting on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 14 – which is also Valentine’s Day – Chef Fedele Folino was more than willing to open his restaurant’s doors recently and share a perfect meatless recipe.

This simple dish is not complicated, as it includes ingredients people might already have at home or find at their regular supermarket, Folino, co-owner of Gia Nina’s in Woodbury, says of his recipe: crab and shrimp in a blush sauce with cappellini.

Folino’s decades-long dedication to cooking, service and providing quality ingredients to his clients are traits he learned from his mother, Patricia Finney. Together, they own Gia Nina’s along with Speranza Ristorante and Bar in Westville, and Woodbury Station Café in Woodbury.

“Giving back to the customers is what gives me the greatest joy,” says Folino, a lifelong Catholic and parishioner of Infant Jesus, Woodbury Heights. “That’s what I get out of my job more than anything else.”

 “Growing up, my mother always made her home a welcoming one for people in our house, and she continues that now” throughout South Jersey, Folino says.

Make your home a welcoming one this Ash Wednesday as Folino shares his recipe below. And don’t forget to pick up the Catholic Star Herald during Lent as the Clergy Kitchen series returns!

Crab and shrimp in a blush sauce with capellini

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons extra virgin oil
• 8-10 medium-large shrimp
• 1 teaspoon garlic
• pinch of red pepper flakes
• 2-3 oz. white wine
• 2 oz. stock, vegetable or seafood for Lent
• 3-4 oz. tomato passata
• 3-4 oz. heavy cream
• 7 oz. cooked capellini pasta
• 4 oz. crab meat
• 3-4 pz. Romano cheese
• 2 tablespoons butter
• fresh basil
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Bring water to a boil, and cook pasta.

Meanwhile, add extra virgin olive oil to a hot pan. Add shrimp and pinch of salt and sauté for two minutes; add garlic when shrimp are halfway cooked. Stir and add pinch of red pepper flakes.

As shrimp is almost cooked and garlic starts to turn a golden-brown, add wine to deglaze pan. Cook for about a minute to reduce wine.

Add stock and stir for about a minute; and tomato passata. After another minute, put in heavy cream and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook to reduce liquid until a bit thickened.

Add crab meat, pasta, butter and Romano cheese. Stir. Garnish with basil and more cheese, if needed.

For seafood allergies or vegetarians: shrimp and crab meat can be replaced with roasted tomatoes, garlic broccoli, eggplant, zucchini, etc.

For non-dairy: replace butter and cream with non-dairy options like plant butter, coconut cream or cashew cream

For gluten free: replace standard noodles with any gluten free pasta

More Online: Watch Fedele Folino make this delicious dish, and get some cooking tips, now at youtube.com/catholicstarherald!