Giada De Laurentiis Shares the Secret to Making Her Aunt Raffy’s ‘Decadent’ Lobster Fra Diavolo
One of Food Network star Giada De Laurentiis‘ family members who knows food almost as much as she does is her Aunt Raffy.
A daughter of renowned Hollywood producer Dino De Laurentiis, Raffy knows her way around a kitchen. And her niece, Giada, proudly posted recently a share-worthy recipe of her aunt’s that she called “decadent” yet “simple.”
Meet Giada De Laurentiis’ Aunt Raffy
The Giada at Home host’s Aunt Raffy’s name is Raffaella De Laurentiis and is the sister of Giada’s mother, Veronica. As noted, Raffy and Veronica’s father was Hollywood producer Dino De Laurentiis, famous for his films King Kong, Barbarella, and Hannibal.
Like her father, Raffy is also an accomplished film producer, with films such as Conan the Barbarian, Conan the Destroyer, Dune, Prancer, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, all films in the Dragonheart series, The Forbidden Kingdom, and Kull the Conqueror under her belt.
Growing up, Giada was in awe of her aunt and her fearlessness in pursuing her dreams as a film producer and credits her as a major influence on her cooking style, as she told Shape.
“I learned tradition from my grandfather, who grew up selling pasta in Naples; simplicity from my mom, who had four kids and had to get dinner on the table fast every night; and creativity from my aunt, who is my cooking soul mate,” the mother of one said.
De Laurentiis said her aunt helps with her Food Network program. “She finds the recipes and we tweak them. We’ve been doing that since I was a kid.”
What you’ll need to make Aunt Raffy’s Lobster Fra Diavolo
Apparently, Giada has been working towards getting her aunt’s permission to reprint her recipe because she wrote in an Instagram post this week: “@auntraffy made this dish a few weeks ago & finally convinced her to give me the recipe… divine! Decadent & highlights the simple ingredients. Recipe on @thegiadzy (search lobster fra diavolo).”
Not only did she post the recipe; she also revealed the secret to the recipe’s deliciousness. “The key to this recipe is the pomodorini tomatoes. Italian grocery stores will carry them, as will some specialty markets, but you can also get my absolute favorite ones from our store. (Aunt Raffy agrees – says they’re ‘the best tomatoes in the world!’) Because pomodorini tomatoes are so sweet and vibrant, you don’t have to cook them for very long. That’s the beauty of them!”
This Lobster Fra Diavolo calls for pasta, olive oil, garlic cloves, crushed red pepper, lobster tail meat, white wine, the canned pomodorini cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, cold butter and fresh mint.
How to make Raffy’s Lobster Fra Diavolo
For this dish, (full recipe instructions here), Giada first calls for the lobster tails and the pasta to be cooked. She notes that, depending on your guests’ appetites, you might want to have more lobster tail meat on hand than the recipe lists.
Chop up the cooked lobster tail meat and set it aside. In a skillet, sauté over medium heat the garlic, the shell the lobster meat was in, and the red pepper flakes. Salt and pepper to taste. Discard the shell. The wine is added, along with the tomatoes, basil, and the lobster meat until heated through. Add the linguine and butter, toss all together and serve with fresh mint. Enjoy!
As Giada noted on her blog, “This dish is quite popular in my family, especially around Christmas time when seafood is a holiday tradition for Italians. However, it’s the kind of dish to turn to in any season if you want to make something a little extra special – nothing makes a dish feel celebratory quite like lobster does!”
