Spicy chilli prawn pasta Recipe

 Ingredients

180 g / 6 oz fettuccine or other pasta or choice

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

150 - 180 g / 5 - 6 oz medium prawns/shrimp , peeled and deveined

2 anchovies , whole (or 1/2 tsp anchovy paste)

1 garlic clove , minced

1/4 cup white wine

1 tsp+ chilli fakes / red pepper flakes

1 cup / 250 ml tomato passata (Note 2)

2 tsp finely grated parmesan

1/2 lemon

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley , plus more to serve

             Instructions

• Get all the ingredients out and ready to go - this recipe moves fast!

• Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add a big pinch of salt and the pasta. Cook for the time per the packet MINUS 1 minute. SCOOP OUT a mugful of pasta cooking water before draining pasta (or transfer it straight from pot into sauce, if you time it right).

• Heat oil in a skillet over high heat. Add prawns and cook for 30 seconds, until surface just changes from translucent to opaque.

• Add red pepper flakes and anchovies. Stir briefly, then add wine and garlic.

• Cook for 30 seconds until wine is mostly evaporated.

• Add tomato passata, squeeze of lemon juice, parmesan, salt and pepper. Bring to simmer, turn heat down to medium and cook sauce for 1 minute, stirring frequently (don't cook for long otherwise will overcook prawns).

• Add pasta, about 1/2 cup of pasta cooking water and parsley. Toss gently for 1 minute (or gently stir with wooden spoon or tongs) until sauce re-thickens and it coats the pasta.

• Adjust salt, pepper and spiciness to taste. Serve immediately with more parsley.

                Recipe Notes:

1. Truly great prawn / shrimp pastas are made with sauces that are simmered for hours using the prawn heads and shells. In this quick midweek version, I compensate for the lack of hours of simmering with anchovies and parmesan, both of which are used to add "umami" (being a savoury taste, one of the 5 taste sensations) to the sauce. It does not taste fishy at all, no one will guess there are anchovies in this! It just adds that extra special something to the sauce.  If you REALLY can't stand it, yes you can leave it out, still super tasty!!!

Traditionally, seafood pastas are not served with parmesan (it is "illegal" in Italy!) but in this case, the parmesan is not about adding a cheesy finish to the pasta, it's about adding savouriness into the sauce.

2. If you really can't find tomato passata, 400g/14oz of crushed canned tomato can be substituted. But I urge you to find it - once you try it once, you'll understand why I'm such a huge fan of it! It costs around the same as canned tomato.

3. The order in which I add things in this recipe is a bit different to the norm but there's a reason for it! I find because the skillet is so hot and there's lots of space around the prawns, the garlic burns too quickly so I add it later after the wine to get good garlic flavour in the sauce.

4. Nutrition per serving.