Jason Staudt, executive chef at Melbourne’s iconic Stokehouse, wasn’t always a seafood fan.

“Being from a landlocked city in Calgary, I ate a fair amount of canned and preserved shellfish,” he admits. “It wasn’t until I did my apprenticeship at River Cafe in Calgary that I fell in love with fresh seafood.”

That passion is now on full display in this fan-favourite seafood pasta, served at Stokehouse’s downstairs sibling, Stokehouse Pasta & Bar. After all, who doesn’t love eating seafood by the beach?

Staudt has an easy trick for perfectly tender seafood: Cut the seafood pieces to match the size of the pasta. Then, to prevent overcooking, saute each type of seafood separately for no more than a minute, until they’re just cooked through.

“The key is to work quickly. Have everything ready to go – even having the pasta cooked – before cooking the seafood.”

And why rigatoni instead of spaghetti? “Rigatoni is fork food,” he says. “It’s easy to stab the pasta and seafood together for the perfect flavourful mouthful, every time.”

Staudt has also shared Stokehouse’s versatile sugo recipe. It takes about an hour to cook, but you can substitute store-bought sugo, if you prefer.