This is not your average prawn linguine and you do need to make a shellfish stock BUT we did this on a Tuesday night after work so you can too!! The photo really doesn’t do justice to how deep and complex the flavours are.
Wine Suggestion: A southern Italian white like Michele Biancardi’s Solo Fiano from Puglia where it has perfume and stone fruits bursting from the glass. A rich and round palate counter-balanced with a fresh, textural acidity completes the wine; like warm sunshine in a glass tempered by fresh breezes off the Adriatic Sea.
Prawn linguine – serves 2
- 350g whole prawns, you need to peel and devein them yourself and keep the shells and the heads
- 160g linguine
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large clove of garlic, crushed
- ¼ tsp dried chilli flakes
- 8 cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 tbsp roughly chopped parsley
FOR THE PRAWN STOCK:
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 clove of garlic, roughly chopped
- 1 shallot, roughly chopped
- 2 tinned anchovies
- 1 bay leaf
- shells and heads from the peeled prawns (see above)
- 125ml white wine
- 375ml chicken stock
You need to start with the stock. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over a medium-high heat and cook the garlic, shallot, anchovies and bay leaf for a few minutes, mashing the anchovies up as you go. Add the prawn heads and shells and cook, stirring, for 4 minutes.
Add the wine and turn the heat up high and simmer for a couple of minutes or until almost evaporated. Add the stock and ½ tsp salt, bring to the boil, then simmer gently for 25 minutes. Crush the prawn heads with a potato masher a couple of times as the stock simmers. Strain the stock through a fine sieve into a jug, pressing down hard on the shells to extract all the flavour. Throw away the solids and hang on to the delicious stock.
Toss the now peeled prawns with salt and black pepper. Heat 1 tbsp of the olive oil in a large, non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Cook the prawns for about 1 minute on each side, or until opaque, then transfer to a plate.
Heat another tbsp of oil in the same frying pan and cook the garlic and chilli flakes for 15 seconds or until the garlic is just golden. Add the prawn stock and turn the heat up high. Simmer rapidly, stirring to scrape any tasty bits from the bottom of the pan, until the liquid has reduced to about 125ml. Turn off the heat and leave aside while you cook the pasta.
Bring a large pot of salty water to the boil and cook the linguine for 1 minute less than the timing suggested on the pack. When the pasta is almost cooked put the shellfish stock back over a high heat. Transfer the pasta directly from the pot of water to the stock with some tongs, it will bring some pasta cooking liquid with it. Add the cherry tomatoes and toss for a couple of minutes with two wooden spoons until the sauce coats the pasta and no longer sits in a puddle at the bottom of the pan. If it starts to clag add a little more pasta water.
Toss the prawns and parsley through the pasta and divide between two bowls.
(Original recipe from Recipetin Eats Dinner by Nagi Maehashi, Pan Macmillan, 2022.)
Jono & Jules do food & wine 