Prawn, baby tomato, basil and chilli pasta

I don’t like to overcomplicate a good, simple pasta dish. This recipe is typical of the kind of pasta sauce that I like — it has freshness and bite, some substance from the prawns and pasta shells, and the cream brings it all together with a swirl of finesse.

It’s not often I use cream in a pasta sauce — more often than not, I enrich a pasta sauce with a ladle or two of drained pasta water — but every rule deserves to be broken sometimes. Well, not every rule, but you know what I mean.

Prawns sold in South Africa are frozen, and there’s no way around this other than to eschew them altogether. And let’s not do that. But prawns are in very good shape once they’ve been thawed and given some time to drain.

If I have a bag of frozen prawn tails (without shells), this is what I do:

• Put the whole, unopened bag in a pot of cold water for an hour or two, until they have thawed;
• Open the bag, and pour the prawns into a colander over the sink;
• Leave the prawns in the colander, then put the colander on top of a large bowl, cover, and put it in the fridge for 3 or 4 hours. This will be enough time for the prawns to drain properly;
• Lay out some kitchen paper, or a kitchen towel, on a working surface; place the prawns on this, and leave them to air dry for an hour just before it’s time to cook them.

Do all of the above, and it will be pretty much as if the prawns had been bought fresh.

Regarding the gnocchi pasta: this is another name for a type of pasta shell, as well as the potato dumplings also known by that name.

(Serves 2)

Ingredients

400g uncooked shelled prawn tails

16 baby Roma tomatoes, halved lengthwise

2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

1 red chilli, seeded and chopped finely

12 basil leaves, torn

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

100ml fresh cream

Salt and black pepper to taste

½ a packet of pasta shells (aka gnocchi)

Method

Slice the tomatoes in half lengthwise. Chop the garlic and chilli.

Sauté the baby Roma tomatoes in olive oil with garlic for 2 minutes, then add the chopped chilli and the prawns. Cook gently while the juices have built up in the pot, then reduce until there’s a decent coating of sauce on the prawns. Don’t get carried away or you won’t have enough sauce left.

Add the cream, season with salt and black pepper, and simmer gently until the cream has thickened. Tear up most of the basil leaves and stir them in.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta until al dente, drain in a colander, tip it back into the hot pasta pot, and toss the sauce through it.

Serve just as it is, with a few bits of torn basil leaves for garnish. DM

Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks.

This dish is photographed on a plate by Mervyn Gers Ceramics.