Prawn Shrimp Linguine Recipe
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Recipe Overview
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4 people
Ingredients Needed
For the prawn butter
- 1.2kgs/2.6lbs prawns, raw unshelled
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 French shallots, peeled and sliced
- 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
- 70g/2.5oz tomato paste
- 250g/8.8oz butter, cubed, chilled
For the pasta sauce
- 3 x tomatoes, ripe
- 200g/7oz grated zucchini (around 2 small or 1 medium)
- Olove oil for cooking
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled and diced
- 1 green chilli, sliced
- 1/2 cup/125ml/4fl oz white wine
- 1/4 bunch flat parsley
- Zest of 1/2 lemon
- 3-4 tablespoons chilli oil
For Pasta
- 375g/13oz dried linguine
- Salt
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1 PREP - First prep the prawns. Peel the prawns well separating the shell and head from the meat. Cut down the back of the prawns and devein. Chop the meat roughly and keep both the shells and the meat in the fridge until needed.
Step 2 PRAWN BUTTER - Heat a large frying pan with high sides on medium heat. Add the olive oil and shallots and fry for 3-5 minutes until softened but without taking on any colour. Add the paprika and saute for 30 seconds. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the prawn heads and shells and turn heat up to medium high heat turning the shells and heads until they turn pink. Add the butter to the pan and melt.
Step 3 MASH - Then using a potato masher, press down on the shells to extract all of the flavour. Strain this mixture through a sieve pressing down well to get all of that butter. Discard the shells and heads. You can do this part 1 day ahead of time keeping the prawn butter in the fridge.
Step 4 TOMATOES - Remove the calyx from the tomato with a small paring knife and cut an X in the base of the tomato. Place a medium sized pot of water to boil and have a bowl of ice water ready. Blanch the tomatoes until the skin starts to peel back. Remove with tongs and place in ice water. When cool, remove the seeds and skin and finely chop tomato.
Step 5 ZUCCHINI & PASTA - Grate the zucchini on a double layer of paper towels or a tea towel. Squeeze to remove extra water. Put a large pot of water onto boil and add a tablespoon of salt. Place the pasta to cook for the required time according to directions minus 1 minute.
Step 6 FRY - Place a large frying pan with high sides onto medium high heat and add oil and the garlic and green chillies and fry for 30 seconds. Then add the grated zucchini and tomatoes and the white wine and bring to a simmer for 5 minutes with the lid on.
Step 7 FINISH - Add the chopped prawns and stir to cook the prawns evenly. Add the prawn butter back into the pan along with the chopped parsley, lemon zest and chilli oil. Add 1 cup of pasta cooking water to the sauce and then using tongs, add the pasta to the sauce in the pan. Turn to coat the pasta and leave it to cook for 2-3 minutes to soak up some of the sauce. Season and serve with lemon to squeeze over if needed (also extra chilli oil never goes astray).
Personal Note
The day that I made this last I was having quite a day. I was a bit sick so I had just set myself a lighter day than usual. But the day did still involve making and shooting this pasta.
And nothing was going right.
I had broken a container of soup - thankfully it didn't have a lot of liquid in it as it was mostly meatballs, but I had to clean it up. Then I spilled water when bringing a pot from the sink to the stove. Sometime during that morning I had taken out the prawn shells for this pasta out of the freezer into the fridge. Except when I stared at the fridge I couldn't see them. Do you know sometimes you can't see something right in front of your face? It doesn't happen often (it's more a Mr NQN thing) but I couldn't ask Mr NQN as he was out. I looked about 5 times opening drawers and even cupboards. Had I put it in a drawer or cupboard in my semi-fugue state?
When Mr NQN came home I told him that I needed his help urgently.
"I've lost a container of prawn shells...somewhere in our house!" I said in a desperate voice before adding, "We are in a race against time! If we don't find them, they'll start smelling!" (Yes I watch a lot of true crime and am dramatic).
He looked everywhere around the kitchen and in both pantries and then he looked in the fridge. The container of prawn shells were sitting askew in the fridge door. And then I recalled this thud that I had heard when I put them in the fridge and I thought "I really should check on that" but then figured that that was a problem for future me. I really should have listened to past me!
So tell me Dear Reader, do you ever lose things? Do you save prawns heads and shells?