I wonder what else you would do, sitting in a 1908 cottage in Blackheath on a holiday long weekend. You cook. The weather is bleak, chilly, windy and I love it. The kitchen is warmed by an old Kooka gas stove top. I struggle to get the water hot enough to boil on the old girl yet the outcome is truly worthwhile. I first cooked this a week or so ago and it tasted pretty good, but today Stew suggested it again only because by chance we discovered a fantastic seafood and specialist food supplier in the coles car park in Katoomba. So with a bunch of fresh prawns, some South Australian scallop meat and other supplies in the bag we headed back to the cottage for Saturday lunch.
Recipe: Spaghetti with Prawn, Scallop and Tomato in Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- 16 Green Prawns, peeled and cut in half
- 10 Fresh scallops, white meat only
- 500g of good quality dried spaghetti
- Three small spring onions or french shallots, sliced very finely. I cut them in half then slice them One garlic clove finely chopped
- One small birds eye chilli chopped including seeds
- 600g of vine ripe cherry tomatoes or baby romas. (the quality of the tomatoes is a deal breaker in this dish
- 100ml of good quality double cream
- 6 large basil leaves shredded
- Freshly ground black or white pepper
Instructions
- Put the water on the heat for the pasta keep it just below boiling so that you can bring it to boil on demand
- Heat olive oil in a very heavy fry pan making sure there is a few mm of oil across the whole pan
- Sear the scallops on both sides then sear the prawn meat and transfer to a warm dish or some foil. Keep them moving so they don’t stick, don’t over cook them they will finish in the final step
- Bring the pasta water to the boil toss in a small handful of seasalt and as soon as it returns to a vigourous boil drop the sphagetti in and gently move it around to keep it from sticking, start your timer (based on the packs directions for cooking time) from the moment the water returns to the boil, this should be around 10 mins
- In the same pan you cooked the prawns toss in the onion, garlic and chilli and the whole tomatoes. Stir them to coat them in oil and drop the heat to medium
- Gently shake the pan and keep them moving and turning, you don’t want to brown the onions
- After about 10 minutes you will find the tomatoes are starting to soften, keeping them hot and whole is a key tactic here
- The pasta should just be ready
- Pour in the cream to the pan and gently stir together, then add the prawn and scallop meat, gentle stir and let it warm through
- Grind in plenty of fresh pepper
- Drain the pasta and add it to the pan, or vice versa
- Stir the lot together, toss in the basil and another quick stir
- I like to serve this on a big platter on the table and let everyone dig in
Quick Notes
Enjoy this dish with a crisp white wine for a weekend lunch. A Sauvignon Blanc would wash it down a treat.
Variations
If you want to really kick this one up a notch replace the prawns with scampi, you can buy totally awesome scampi from New Zealand from most fish markets.
Cooking time (duration): 25
Number of servings (yield): 4
Meal type: lunch
Culinary tradition: Italian
My rating: