whine & dine

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I have a friend who hates prawns, lobster, crabs, and everything with an exoskeleton. She says they’ve got an “exoskeleton taste”, all the while wrinkling her nose. I think she’s mad – I love that flavour to bits. Prawns, in particular – not just for the taste but also for the ease with which their protective covering will release its tender, succulent flesh into my hands (and onward to my mouth). And the relatively inexpensive price at which it comes (compared to lobsters, crayfish, and crabs – which both generally have a higher /100g unit price, but also have much heavier shells and a higher shell to meat ratio).

Of all the pasta dishes that I love (both to cook and eat), this might just be the winner. Noodles, oil, garlic and chilli – on its own, it’s already such a perfect picture of simplicity, but adding prawns doesn’t mess anything up. In fact, it’s possibly the only way one could have improved on the dish. Aglio Olio with Prawns – mildly spicy, bursting with the sweet flavour of the sea, headily perfumed with garlic and annointed with the most fragrant of oils.

Oh – I almost forgot – it’s bloody easy to do too. Of course it’s even easier if you omit the not so traditional prawn stock, but hey we all deserve a little treat now and then.

Aglio Olio with Prawns

16 fresh tiger prawns, not peeled
prawn stock (recipe follows)
vegetable stock or water
8 medium cloves of garlic, finely sliced
olive oil
dried chilli flakes (or fresh chilli, if you prefer)
extra virgin olive oil
300g dried long pasta (e.g. spaghetti or linguine)
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
finely chopped flat-leaf Italian parsley (optional)

Peel your prawns, leaving the tails intact, and reserve the heads and shells for the prawn stock. Devein, clean, and store in the fridge. Make your prawn stock.

Cook your pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water.

While the pasta is cooking, heat a little olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat, and add all the garlic. Fry gently, tossing, until the edges start to tinge with brown. Before any of the garlic slices start to burn, add about 1/4 cup of prawn stock, 1/4 cup of vegetable stock or water, add the prawns and cook over lower heat until the prawns just start to turn pink. Season with salt and pepper, and add dried chilli flakes to taste. If necessary, remove from heat to wait for the noodles to finish cooking.

When the noodles are almost al dente, drain them. Return the pan to a high heat, and add the noodles to your prawns, cooking and tossing them until most of the moisture has evaporated. Check the seasoning, and when ready, sprinkle with parsley if using, and a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Remove from the heat, toss a final time to coat the noodles, and serve, garnishing with more parsley and chilli flakes.

Yield: Serves 4

Prawn Stock

reserved heads and shells of the prawns from above recipe
1 small white onion, cut into a medium mirepoix
half a carrot, peeled and cut into a medium mirepoix
vegetable oil

In a heavy-based saucepan, heat the onion gently in a little oil over low heat until translucent. Add the carrot, and cook until they are softened and the onions are lightly caramelised. Remove from heat.

Rinse the prawn heads and shells, then roughly chop them. Heat a little oil in a sauté pan, and when the oil is smoking, add the reserved heads and shells. Sauté until all the shells have turned bright red and are fragrant, about 5-10 minutes. Transfer these to the saucepan with the onions. Fill your sauté pan with water, bring to the boil, stirring to scrape up all the sediment, then pour this into your saucepan. Return the pan to heat, top up with water until the shells and onions are just submerged, then bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, then simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Transfer to a blender, and whizz up to crush up all the shells. Strain the stock through a fine meshed sieve, pressing down on the shells with the back of a wooden spoon to extract as much of the flavour as possible. Allow to cool, then cover tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, or freeze in smaller portions for up to 1 month.

Yield: Makes about 2 cups of stock.