This recipe for prawn linguine is truly delicious. The curry flavour is very mild and works brilliantly with the sauce from the shell reduction.
Ingredients below are for two people however it is easy to increase the ingredients for more people.
Ingredients For Prawn Linguine
400g whole (shell on) prawns from Walter Purkis & Sons
2 large tiger prawns Walter Purkis & Sons – for impressive garnish
6 sticks of celery
1 leek trimmed and finely sliced
1 tin chopped tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
1 large glass white wine
1/2 tsp mild Curry powder
Fresh dill
Splash of Pernod or similar pastis
Olive oil for frying
Salt & pepper for seasoning
Pinch of cayenne pepper
200g of dried pasta such as linguine or tagliatelle
Cooking Method For Prawn Linguine
There are two stages to preparing this dish first preparing the prawn shell reduction then using that delicious concentrated sauce to finish the dish.
Prawn Shell Reduction
If using frozen prawns remove from the fridge in good time to allow them to defrost. Remove the shells and retain all the debris for the reduction. Put the tails meat to one side and keep cool. Fry the shells and heads over a high heat in a little olive oil until lightly browning. Turn down the heat. Add into the pan a pinch of cayenne pepper, the sliced or chopped leek, celery sticks (x2) and garlic cloves. Stir and tip in the tomato. Add the wine and put on a low heat to simmer for about 35 minutes to allow the juice and flavours to combine and concentrate. When the time has elapsed strain the mixture. (If you own one – a conical sieve is perfect for this.) Squeeze the mixture hard to extract every tasty drop. Pour into a smaller saucepan and reduce gently over a low heat. It will darken and become lightly syrupy.
Preparing The Dish
Prepare the four remaining celery sticks. Cut the in half longways. These sticks should be scraped on the outside with a peeler which removes the string and ridges and makes them flatter. Cut these sticks at an angle to create neat diamond or lozenge shapes. Fry the celery diamonds gently in olive oil to soften and cook through without browning (use a pan large enough to hold all the parts of the finished dish). Now add the curry powder and some chopped dill leaves allow to cook for a few more minutes. Add the dash of pastis and a good squeeze of lemon. Pour in the shell reduction followed by the reserved prawn tails to warm through. While they are warming cook your pasta. As soon as it is ready drain well and add to the pan with the prawns and reduction. Turn up the heat and turn all the ingredients together to get an even distribution.
If you are garnishing with a large prawn on top fry or grill quickly whilst pasta is cooking.
Serve right away on hot plates. Sprinkle with some sprigs of fresh dill.
You can find more of our shellfish recipes here >>
