Prawn Taglierini

The ratio of prawns to pasta in a dish like this one can be a personal choice for the cook. I originally cooked this dish using a kilo of prawns and about 300 g of pasta because I love prawns and I think one of the saddest things when eating is when a prawn pasta only has a scant number of prawns in the dish. The fresh green prawns I bought were only $14.00 a kilo (very cheap but looked really fresh) so I bought a kilo and needed to cook them that day. They had already been frozen once, but they still had plenty of flavour and a perfect texture so freezing them at sea on the prawn trawler straight after being caught hadn't caused any disadvantage to the quality of the prawn at all. Buying good quality prawns in season ensures a very tasty dish.  I don't like camouflaging the flavour of seafood with highly seasoned and very rich sauces, the seafood definitely needs to be the hero of the dish. Whilst the tomato sauce I have used is very tasty, it doesn't take away from the perfection of the prawns and the parmesan cheese and basil. This recipe is also about minimal washing up, as the whole dish is cooked in one frying pan. This is a frying pan pasta.

About this recipe:

This recipe is very loosely based on recipes from chef Jamie Oliver's book, called ONE: simple one-pan wonders. I was fascinated by his underlying idea of using sliced fresh lasagne sheets for his pasta recipes. It works. And the cooked pasta has a lovely fresh quality about it. I have rewritten my original recipe to one for 2 people, and 500g of prawns will put plenty of delicious prawns in the bowl with a good amount of pasta as well. You will know you are eating a very good prawn pasta. However, this recipe can easily be adjusted back to cooking for 1 person, which I think is important. This is a recipe for the home cook.

I have worked to the formula of 1 cup of my classic homemade tomato sauce (1 jar) (per person), 250 g of prawns per person, 125 g of fresh pasta (per person), 1/4 cup of parmesan (per person), and a small handful of basil (per person). However add more sauce if you wish.

This recipe serves 2 people but can easily be adjusted to cooking for 1 person or more than 2. It is easily achieved by one person cooking for themselves. However, if you cook a double quantity, there are leftovers for the following day, it's a win, win.

In a previous post, I presented the recipe for my original Classic Homemade Tomato Sauce. It is delicious in this recipe. However, there are some good ones on the market or just use passata, but if you do, please add the Spring onions, garlic, plenty of seasoning and basil to the passata.

What is Taglierini?

You can make this yourself, by using fresh lasagne sheets purchased and packaged from the supermarket, and by finely slicing them lengthways yourself. It is a much finer pasta than tagliatelle.

Ingredients: -

Serves 2

2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil plus a little extra

500 g raw peeled king prawns

2 cups of fresh pasta sauce (preferably homemade)

250 g fresh lasagne sheets (or 125 g per person)

2 finely chopped spring onions or shallots

2 finely chopped garlic cloves (optional)

20 g freshly grated parmesan cheese (or about 1/4 cup per serve)

juice of 1/2 lemon

2 handfuls of torn basil leaves

Method:

 Put your kettle onto boil. Cut the lasagne sheets lengthways as finely as you are able to with a very sharp knife to make taglierini. Finely grate the parmesan. Place your frypan onto a medium high heat. 

Once hot, pour two tablespoons of olive oil into the pan and fry the prawns until they are just changing colour. Remove from the pan and set aside in a bowl and cover.

 Lower the temperature to a light frying heat and add the shallots and garlic and lightly fry, don't allow them to burn. 

Add the pasta sauce to the pan until it is simmering. Add 1 handful of basil leaves, add the prawns.

Add the finely sliced uncooked pasta or taglierini.

Take your kettle, and carefully pour in enough boiling water to cover the pasta, about 300 ml. Keep some boiling water in reserve.

Allow the mixture to bubble away for 4 minutes, stirring every few minutes until the pasta has absorbed most of the water and you have a lovely tomato sauce.  If it starts to stick add some more hot water, but it shouldn't stick.

Remove the pan from the heat, add some more basil leaves, and squeeze in the lemon juice.

Season your sauce to perfection. 

Either stir in the parmesan now, or serve it on top of your pasta. I like to serve it on top with another light sprinkling of basil leaves for colour. Finish with just a drizzle of extra virgin oil if you like.

My cooking notes:

I didn't know we were making Taglierini when we were slicing the lasagne sheets. I asked Mr. HRK to slice them as finely as he could, and he did a great job. Now after some research I know these are referred to as Taglierini. This is what I love about the research side of cooking, I'm always learning.

I really hope you enjoy this recipe. If you can buy fresh good quality King Prawns, you are halfway there.

Happy thanksgiving to everyone in the Northern Hemisphere. I think we all still have plenty to be thankful for. Your menus will be organised by now, and I hope you will all be enjoying some wonderful celebrations with family and friends. 

Warm wishes,

Pauline