Australian Prawn Recipes

Australian Prawns

Homemade chilli prawn pasta with blistered cherry tomatoes and saffron butter

This is one for the real gourmet. The full recipe includes instructions on how to make the pasta from scratch. But you can save yourself a lot of time with store-bought fresh pasta.

Prep Time40 minsCook Time25 minsTotal Time1 hr 5 mins

Ingredients

2 punnets cherry truss tomatoes

24 green Australian prawns, peeled, deveined, tails intact

2 tbsp olive oil + extra for brushing

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 tbsp lemon zest

¼ cup white wine

¼ cup thickened cream

¼ cup chicken stock

1 tbsp finely chopped tarragon

Saffron Butter

A pinch of saffron threads

100 g salted butter

Fresh Pasta

8 egg yolks

1 egg

1 tsp table salt

3 tsp olive oil

400 g “OO” flour

This recipe is for the home gourmet using made from scratch pasta. You can save a significant amount of time using store-bought fresh fettuccine.

Homemade chilli prawn pasta with blistered cherry tomatoes and saffron butter

Method

To make saffron butter:

Infuse saffron in 1 tablespoon of boiling water. Place the butter and saffron in a small food processor and blend until smooth.

To make the fresh pasta:

Place the egg yolks, whole eggs, oil, salt and flour in a food processor pulse until fine crumbs form. You may need to add a little water to bring the dough together.

Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and knead for 10 - 12 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Divide into 2 balls and flatten. Wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight.

Bring dough to room temperature before using.

Divide pasta dough into 6 pieces and, working with a piece at a time, flatten and roll through a pasta machine, starting at the widest setting, dusting with flour as necessary.

Fold in half and repeat until pasta is smooth and silky, then continue rolling and folding, reducing the settings notch by notch each time, until dough reaches a thickness of 2mm.

To make fettuccine:

Feed pasta sheets through the fitted pasta cutting attachment.

To make prawns:

Heat a grill plate or barbecue over high heat.

Brush the tomatoes and prawns with olive oil and grill turning occasionally for 4-5 minutes or until they are charred and blistered. Set aside keep warm.

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water for 4-5 minutes or until al dente. Drain and set aside.

Heat oil and half the saffron butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add garlic, chilli flakes and lemon zest, cook stirring for 1 minute or until golden.

Add the wine, cream and stock and cook for another 2-3 minutes or until thickened.

Add the tarragon, charred prawns and half the cherry tomatoes. Cook for another 2-3 minutes until the flavours have combined.

Add the cooked pasta and toss to coat. Divide between four serving bowls and top with reserved tomatoes, baby basil and parsley leaves. Serve with fresh lemon and extra melted saffron butter if desired.

Serves 4.