Garlic Prawns with Pasta has the most delicious creamy sauce made with garlic, tomatoes, peppers, chilli and lots of cheese. This simple recipe comes together in under half an hour. It is the perfect weekday meal to enjoy with a glass of white wine!
Prawns are one of my favourite seafood and mixing them with pasta is a great way to eat them. If you love prawns, check out my other prawn recipes Baked Prawns (Karides Guvec) and Creamy Prawn Pasta.
Ingredients and Substitutes for Garlic Prawns with Pasta
- Prawns - Fresh raw tiger prawns are the best option, they're big and juicy and taste amazing. Buy fresh prawns with shells and heads, if you can. However, peeled and deveined prawns make life easier so it's up to you what prawns to use. For a convenient alternative, use regular raw prawns, they're smaller but cheaper, and they still taste great.
- Peppers - I prefer using green Turkish peppers but Spanish Padron peppers or bell peppers would also do the job.
- Tomatoes -Red & juicy summer tomatoes are always the best option. Remove the eye of the tomatoes and cut them into small dice. Use cherry tomatoes for a sweeter taste.
- Cajun Spices - It is a great seasoning for fish, chicken and meat and is made of salt, garlic powder, paprika, black pepper, onion powder, cayenne pepper, oregano, thyme, and red pepper flakes. Make your own or buy ready-made from supermarkets.
- Garlic - Use fresh garlic cloves, finely chop or turn them into a paste before adding to the dish.
- Olive oil - Use a good quality olive oil to make the marinade for the prawns. A little goes long way!
- Butter - Use salted or unsalted good quality butter for extra rich and nutty flavour. Lightly brown the butter before adding the prawns.
- Red chilli - Optional, can be substituted with flaked chillies or fresh green chillies. adjust the amount to your taste.
- Double cream - It is very similar to heavy cream. You can substitute it with whipping cream or milk and butter.
- Lemon juice - It adds some freshness to the sauce as well as enhances the flavour! Use freshly squeezed lemon juice, not the bottled ones.
- Cheese - No pasta is complete without cheese. Use stilton, gorgonzola or Roquefort along with parmesan and cheddar, to enrich the sauce and to give a sharp umami flavour. Adjust the amount of cheese to your taste.
- Fresh herbs - The best herbs to pair with seafood are dill, parsley, tarragon, chervil and chives. Use a mixture of a few or just one of them to add a delicate, sharp punch to your pasta.
- Pasta - Dried or fresh, any pasta type works great with this garlicky sauce.
Please see the recipe card below for exact quantities.
How to Make Garlic Prawns with Pasta?
It is very easy to make this delicious pasta dish and to achieve the best results, you need to follow a few simple steps:
- Marinate the prawns - Mix olive oil and cajun spices in a bowl and add the prawns, mix until prawns are nicely covered with spiced olive oil. Set them aside and let them marinate while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Put some water to boil for pasta before starting the sauce.
- Make the sauce - To make the sauce, place a large pan or wok on medium heat and melt the butter. When the butter starts sizzling, add the prawns and cook for a minute, until they turn pink and start to curl. Don't be tempted to cook any longer as they will cook more later with the sauce. Remove the prawns on a plate and set them aside to add them later to the sauce. Add the garlic to the same pan and quickly sauté for 30 seconds with the remaining butter and then add the peppers. Sauté peppers for another minute and then add the tomatoes (and chillies if using).
Cook the tomatoes until soft, for about a couple of minutes and then add the double cream, salt and pepper. The water for the pasta should be boiling at this point. Add plenty of salt to boiling water and add your pasta in. (Assuming that you are using dried pasta which usually takes 10 to 12 minutes. If you are using fresh pasta, start cooking it later). Reduce the cream down for a few minutes and then add the blue cheese along with the lemon juice. Cook for a few more minutes, stirring until the blue cheese melts into the creamy sauce. Add the rest of the cheese, chopped herbs and prawns last minute, just before adding the cooked pasta into the sauce.
Stir well until nicely combined and remove it from the heat. Serve with some more grated cheese and chopped herbs.
Prawns are great to mix with pasta, but there are many other ways to enjoy this popular seafood. You can make cheesy and spicy Baked Prawns (Karides Guvec) or you can add them into your Fish Pie mixture. You can make prawn cocktail, chilli and garlic prawns, prawn kebabs or just add to salads.
I prefer using long shaped pasta such as linguini, spaghetti, fettuccine or tagliatelle but you can use what you have in your pantry.
Remove the prawn head by holding the prawn by the body with one hand and firmly grasping the prawn's head with your other hand.
Peel off the shell and then peel off the remainder of the prawn's outer layer. Pull the legs off using your fingers, from its underside. Then pull off the tail, firmly holding the body of the prawn with one hand and grabbing the prawn tail with your other hand. Devein the prawn with the help of a sharp small knife. Cut a small line that runs down the length of the prawn's back and use the tip of the knife to pull out the vein.
Top Tip from The Chef
Always keep some of the pasta cooking water while making the sauce. If the sauce gets too thick while you cook it, add some pasta water to make it creamy again.
Equipment you might find handy
Garlic Prawns with Pasta
Ingredients
- 300 g tiger or king prawns (shelled and deveined, cut in two lengthwise)
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- ½ tablespoon cajun spice
- 10 g butter
- 1 Turkish chilli (or ½ green bell pepper or few green Spanish padron peppers) (sliced)
- 2 medium tomatoes (small diced)
- 3 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
- 1 red chilli (finely chopped, optional)
- 225 ml double cream or heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 50 g blue cheese (crumbled)
- 100 g grated cheddar cheese
- 50 g grated parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoon chopped herbs such as parsley, dill, tarragon, chives or chervil
- 400 g pasta your choice
Instructions
- Mix olive oil and cajun spices in a bowl and add the prawns, mix until prawns are nicely covered with spiced olive oil. Set them aside and let them marinate while preparing the rest of the ingredients.
- Put some water to boil for pasta before starting the sauce.
- To make the sauce, place a large pan or wok on medium heat and melt the butter.
- When the butter starts sizzling, add the prawns and cook for a minute, until they turn pink and start to curl. Don't be tempted to cook any longer as they will cook more later with the sauce.
- Remove the prawns on a plate and set them aside to use later.
- Add the garlic to the same pan and quickly sauté for 30 seconds with the remaining butter and then add the peppers.
- Sauté peppers for another minute and then add the tomatoes (and chillies if using).
- Cook the tomatoes until soft, for about a couple of minutes and then add the double cream, salt and pepper.
- The water for the pasta should be boiling at this point. Add plenty of salt to boiling water and add your pasta in. (Assuming that you are using dried pasta which usually takes 10 to 12 minutes. If you are using fresh pasta, start cooking it later).
- Reduce the cream down for a few minutes and then add the blue cheese along with the lemon juice.
- Cook for a few more minutes, stirring until the blue cheese melts into the creamy sauce.
- Add the rest of the cheese, chopped herbs and prawns last minute, just before adding the cooked pasta into the sauce.
- Stir all well together until nicely combined and remove from the heat.
- Serve with some more grated cheese and chopped herbs.
Nutrition
FOOD SAFETY
- Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Don’t leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
See more guidelines at USDA.gov.
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