Today I am thinking about pasta and
all of the wonderful things you can do with it. My friend Jill, who has become
very interested in cooking as of late, asked me to put a pasta recipe up so
here it comes. This recipe was a happy success which came from a black box
challenge that my buddy Toby and I randomly decided to do. Toby picked three
ingredients for me and I did the same for him. We had to create two dishes each
using our mystery ingredients and his girlfriend Tiffany reaped the benefits of
Toby and I screwing around in the kitchen. I was given shellfish, tomatoes and
beer. The wheels began to turn furiously and the result was this pasta dish. In
the following recipe I have substituted wine for beer just because in my own
mind it is a little more “classic” and pairs with the shellfish a little bit
better. You are more than welcome to keep the beer in rather than using the
white wine. If you are going to use the beer choose something in the middle of
the beer spectrum not too light and not too stout. I think I used a good IPA
and it worked great. You will want to go light on the portions on this one as
with all of the butter and cream it is fairly rich. But like the squirrel in
Enchanted says... “Its goooood.”
Prawn and Tomato
Spaghetti in Cream Sauce to the tune of “The General” by Dispatch
6 large
prawns 8/10 if you can find them, a few more if they are smaller* shelled and
deveined. 2 roughly chopped 4 whole.
¼ cup of
butter
¼ cup flour
1 cup of
whole milk
2 cloves of
garlic minced
¼ cup good parmesan
or asiago cheese plus a little for garnish
2 tomatoes
skinned and seeded, roughly chopped.
¼ cup white
wine... Remember if you wouldn’t drink it you shouldn’t cook with it.
A fist full
of spaghetti
A splash of
olive oil
Salt to
taste
*The
fraction that you see when you are buying shellfish, like 8/10, refers to the
size of the shellfish you are buying. So you will get somewhere between 8 to 10
prawns per pound. Just in case you were wondering.
-Bring a
pot of salted water to a boil for your pasta, add in some oil.
-In a small
sauce pan make a roux. This is a French technique for thickening sauces as I understand
it. Melt your butter and add your flour to create a paste. Do this over a
medium heat.
-Add in
your milk and cheese and reduce heat, let it simmer. If it gets a little thick
just add a little bit more milk. Whisk the crap out of it until it is smooth.
-Drop your
pasta into the water and cook until it is about 80% done.
-In a large
sauté pan add oil, garlic and prawns. Whole ones first and chopped ones second.
Add in your wine. Cook until they just start to turn pink. Remove the whole prawns
and set aside.
-Add your
sauce to the pan, use your judgement in the amount of sauce you add, it should
be enough to coat the pasta not drown it. Add your pasta and tomatoes, toss or
mix everything together. This should finish cooking everything.
-Plate up
your pasta and top with a whole prawn and a little bit of cheese to garnish.
Like that you got yourself a rocking pasta dish.
Give it a
go and don’t be afraid to play with your food. It works great scallops too.
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