Spaghetti is one of those foods I could probably eat for every meal and still be left wanting more. Carbonara, Bolognese, Cacio e pepe, every one of them is pure heaven to me. Seafood on the other hand, not so much, not always. However, this spaghetti is an exception. It’s one of those recipes that takes me back straight to memories of travelling through Italy on a sunny day with the smell of the sea and a glass of wine. A tangy sun-dried tomato sauce with a subtle hit of chilli makes this prawn and spinach spaghetti a classic with a twist. Think of it as a quicker and slightly healthier version of a prawn linguine, using wholewheat spaghetti and superfood greens instead!
PREPARATION TIME: 30 Minutes
INGREDIENTS
- 250 g wholewheat spaghetti
- 2 cloves garlic , finely chopped (for the sauce)
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped (for the crumb)
- 1-2 red chillies, finely sliced
- 200 g peeled tiger prawns
- 1 teaspoon of butter* (optional)
- Juice of 1/2 a lemon
- 1 small wine glass of white wine
- 10-12 sun-dried tomatoes
- Handful of baby spinach leaves/ 2 large kale leaves
- Salt and black pepper
- Olive oil
(Adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe)
METHOD
Cook the wholewheat spaghetti in a pot of generously salted boiling water according to the instructions on the packet. That should roughly take between 8-12 minutes, depending on the kind of pasta you use.
In a high-speed blender, blitz together the sun-dried tomatoes with some of its oils until it turns into a purée. You can always leave some chunky bits in there, I find that adds a bit of texture to the plate.
While the spaghetti is cooking, heat up a large frying pan, drizzle in some olive oil and toss in the garlic and chillies. As the garlic starts to catch some colour, add in the butter*and the prawns to the pan. Squeeze in a dash of lemon juice and sauté the prawns until they start to change in colour.
Note: The butter adds a lovely rich colour to the prawns and also kicks up the flavour, although it is entirely optional if you’re trying to keep it healthy.
Add in the sun-dried tomato purée, stir it through while slowly pouring in the wine. Let the prawns simmer in the wine on a low heat for a few minutes. At this point the prawns would’ve absorbed all the gorgeous flavours from the pan.
In a small saucepan heat up some olive oil on a high heat, toss in the remaining garlic and fry it until it turns crispy and lovely golden brown in colour. This only takes a minute or two. Using a slotted spoon take it off the heat and set aside on some kitchen paper.
Next, save a cup of the starchy pasta water and strain the spaghetti into a colander.
Remove some of the prawns off the heat and toss the spaghetti in with the sauce. Add some of the pasta water to the pan in order to thin the sauce out ever so slightly .
Add in the baby spinach or roughly tear up small bits of kale leaves and add them to the pan. This is probably very unlike a classic linguine, but its an easy way to get in a bit of greens with your meals. Return the remaining prawns back to the pan.
Serve the spaghetti hot and sprinkle over some of the garlic crumb and chilli! That’s all there is to it, seafood, pasta, greens and still relatively healthy!
PRESSURE POINTS
Remember prawns don’t require a lot of cooking time. So be sure to have all your ingredients prepped up, instead of having to abandon the prawns on the heat and eventually ending up with overcooked prawns.
If you give this recipe a go, I’d love to see how it turned out. Leave a comment below and share your pictures on Instagram using the tag #thecookbooklife!
Buon appetitto!
Nikita xx
The Cookbook Life 