A fresh and easy to make pasta dish that celebrates the flavours of summer.
Make and serve throughout the warmer months, and enjoy with a crisp MadFish Riesling.
INGREDIENTS
20 large prawns
60 ml olive oil
30g garlic – finely chopped.
50ml white wine
200ml hot fish stock or pasta water
1 bunch chives – finely sliced and set aside
4 egg yolks
Capsicum filaments or threads – to finish
Bottarga to finish
120g prawn oil – to finish (recipe below)4
400g dried spaghettini
20g pangratato (recipe below)
Take 12 of the large prawns and completely peel and devein them, keeping the shells to make the prawn oil. Cut the prawns into large chunks and set aside over ice until required. Meanwhile with the remaining prawn, peel only their bodies and devein, leaving only their heads and tails intact. Skewer these prawns in order to keep them straight during their cooking time. Set this aside on ice.
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and start to cook the pasta up to two minutes before the recommended cooking time. During that time start to prepare the pasta base. Heat a large frypan up over medium low heat and 50ml olive oil and garlic. Stir to combine and cook until the garlic starts to become fragrant but it does not colour at all. Add the cut up prawns and sauté over low heat very gently for 1 minute. Add the wine to deglaze and 5 seconds later add the fish stock or water and then turn the heat up to medium. Simmer very gently till the liquid is reduced roughly by half. By this time the pasta should be cooked. Drain the pasta and directly transfer into the frying pan. Shake the pan to distribute the liquid through the pasta, this will help to thicken the sauce and finish cooking the pasta. Cook until about 1 tablespoon per person of liquid remains.
Add your egg yolks and continue to cook stirring constantly until the mixture thickens but is not at all scrambled egg. Drizzle in the remaining olive oil, constantly moving the pasta, then toss through the chives. Season to taste and remember that the bottarga will be salty. Meanwhile in a separate pan over high heat, sauté the skewered prawns for 20 seconds each side and then remove from the heat, rest for 30 seconds and then remove the skewers. Place prawns onto a plate and season lightly with salt and pepper.
Plate the pasta onto a serving bowl, top with the capsicum filaments and pangrattato. Place the whole prawns on the plate, followed by the prawn oil. Finish the dish with a generous grating of bottarga and serve straight away.
Prawn Oil
125g grapeseed oil
125g water
300g prawn shells
5g fennel seed
2g dried chilli
1 cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon paprika
20g brandy or cognac
Combine all the ingredients in a medium sized pot, bring to the boil and then set to simmer. Simmer ingredients for about an hour or until the water has evaporated. At this point pass through a sieve lined with oil filter paper. Discard solids and store prawn oil for up to a week in the fridge. Bring to room temperature before serving
Pangratato
Take some stale bread and roughly cut it up into chunks. Bake in a 120 degree oven until completely dry. Allow to cool. Process bread briefly in a robot coupe until very coarse crumbs have formed. Pass the bread crumbs though a coarse sieve. Discard the fine bread crumbs, keeping only the coarse crumbs. Set aside until required in an airtight container
