A while back I had the good fortune of attending a phenomenal chef’s table experience at the Fig Tree restaurant at Simbithi in Ballito. This is where I had the honour of meeting the award-winning head chef, Gerard van Staden. I loved his nosh so much that I went back to hound him for some recipes and secrets. The result of this little investigative sojourn has inspired me to put up a regular recipe feature by a local chef or food hero, starting with this prawn and chilli pasta.
Decadent prawn & chilli pasta
Recipe Type: Pasta
Author:
Serves: 2
A rich, delicious and easy dish that is glammed up with a drizzle of truffle oil. Don’t underestimate the fennel in this, it adds the crisp crunch that enhances the sauce and the prawns. I don’t even like aniseedy flavour of fennel but in this, the flavour is too good to suffer any prejudice!
Ingredients
- 20ml Olive oil
- 200g Shelled medium prawns
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tomato, chopped
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 small finely sliced chilli
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 45g tomato paste
- 150 ml Cream
- Salt & pepper
- 4 tbsp Basil pesto
- 150g Angel hair pasta
- 50g Parmesan cheese, shaved
- 10ml Truffle oil
- 25g finely shaved fennel bulb
- Small handful of pea shoots
- A few sprigs of coriander and dill
Instructions
- For the Prawn Sauce: Preheat a pan with a splash of the olive oil on high heat. Add then prawns and fry until they have turned pink in colour. Remove the prawns.
- Deglaze the pan with the lemon juice (pour it in and stand back, it’ll hiss!) and cook until reduced and caramelised.
- Mix in the tomatoes, chilli, garlic and onions and cook until the onions are translucent and the tomatoes have softened. Add back the prawns. Stir through the tomato paste and cream, and heat through. Season to taste.
- For the Pasta: Cook pasta to packet instructions until al dente. Drain and mix with the pesto.
- To Serve: Divide pasta equally into bowls. Add prawn sauce on top. Arrange pea shoots over the sauce, with a drizzle of the truffle oil. Add a sprinkle of the parmesan and garnish with the fresh herbs and an arrangement of the shaved fennel. Serve immediately
Your photos are breathtaking and I love this idea 🙂