Lobster linguine recipe

And once again, the night of San Silvestro is upon us, a time for celebrations, toasts, and feasts with friends and family. After sharing with you some of our Cesarine’s recipes for a perfect Christmas menu, we couldn’t miss the chance to wish you all the best for the upcoming 2025 by presenting another recipe to prepare a delicious and refined dish—perfect to end 2024 on a high note. Here is the recipe for lobster linguine by our Cesarina Antonella from Reggio Calabria!

Lobster linguine

A delicious recipe featuring one of the tastiest (and priciest) shellfish

DifficultyMedium

Preparation time20m

Cooking time30m

Servings2

€

CostHigh

Ingredients

200 g linguine
1 lobster (approx. 500 g)
20 cherry tomatoes (mixed red and yellow)
White wine for deglazing
Garlic
Chopped parsley, as needed
Extra virgin olive oil
Fresh chili pepper, as needed
Salt

Method

Split the lobster in half, clean it, and rinse it under running water.
Gently extract the lobster meat, chop it into pieces, and set aside.
Bring a pot of water to a boil and salt it.
In a large skillet (where you will finish cooking the pasta), sauté garlic in a little olive oil. Add the lobster shell and cracked claws, deglaze with white wine, and let it evaporate.
Add the cherry tomatoes and a small amount of chili pepper. Lower the heat, season with salt (if necessary), cover, and let cook for about 10 minutes. Add a bit of hot water if needed.
After cooking, remove the shell (keeping it intact for plating), extract the claw meat, and leave it in the sauce.
Cook the linguine in boiling water for half the indicated cooking time. Once ready, transfer them to the skillet with the sauce, cooking them for the remaining time (adding ladles of pasta water if needed).
About 2–3 minutes before the pasta is fully cooked, add the reserved lobster meat, tossing the pasta to combine. Finish with chopped parsley, plate the pasta, and use the lobster shell as a garnish.

Antonella

Other Delicious Recipes, from Appetizers to Desserts, for the Christmas Holidays

Chicken liver pâté crostini, Neapolitan lasagna, roasted meat in a crust, Pandoro.

The traditions and customs for New Year's Eve from north to south

Every area of Italy has its own customs for celebrating the arrival of the new year: some have now fallen into oblivion, while others have lasted until today. Let’s take a look at some of them together!

Let’s start with some of the essential elements at the stroke of midnight: fireworks and bonfires.

Composite photo of New Year's Eve featuring fireworks, cotechino with lentils, grapes, and lasagna.

The first are widespread almost everywhere but especially in the Center-South, while the second are a prerogative of the northern regions. In Bologna and more generally in Emilia, for example, it is customary to burn the “vecchione”, a puppet resembling an old man that symbolizes the year that has just passed. The “burning castle” spectacle in Ferrara has now become famous, but in general, the tradition of fireworks concerns the entire Northeast and is connected to the bonfires that mark the beginning of the year, such as the Friulian “pignarûi”.

Then there are food-related traditions. The habit of eating grape berries at the stroke of midnight is very widespread, especially in the regions of central-northern Italy. In Valle d’Aosta, the berries must be twelve and all black grapes, while in Tuscany, Umbria, and Marche, white grapes and, more generally, any other fruit that can be shelled are also acceptable. This is intended to symbolize money and wealth, hoping that the arrival of the new year will bring good fortune on the economic front as well. For the same reason, in Abruzzo, the New Year's Eve dinner must always include seven soups made of seven different legumes (a “supercharged” version of the lentil tradition).

Composite photo of New Year's Eve featuring grapes, fireworks, and the Castle of Ferrara.

But of course, there is also room for predictions for the new year. In some areas of Puglia, it is customary to place two grains of wheat in a glass full of water: if they stay together, it is likely that a marriage will occur in the coming months. Meanwhile, in some small villages in Calabria, a stone or a hard object is dropped onto the kitchen floor. If the act has no consequences, it is considered a good omen, while if the floor chips, it is bad luck. Additionally, in Sardinia, farmers try to predict the weather by placing twelve grains of wheat on a hot brick: those that burn indicate good weather.

The tradition of throwing old or broken objects out of the window is gradually disappearing. In some neighborhoods of Naples, the habit of smashing pots and dishes (glassware and tableware in general) on the ground as a gesture of good luck still persists. In Lazio, the misfortunes of the past year are “thrown” out of the house in the form of three large containers filled with dirty water.

Finally, in many regions, it is “forbidden” to start manual work on the evening of San Silvestro and New Year’s Day. From Sicily to Piedmont, the risk is leaving them unfinished or doing them poorly. But there are also exceptions. In Romagna, for example, farmers engage in all sorts of tasks, a duty that, in Abruzzo, is instead reserved for women.