Pasta & Prawn Parcels

With only a couple of weeks left working as a fishmonger in London I thought I would move away from my usual ranting and offer some blog posts of direct interest to fish eaters. Over the past five years i have probably sold something in the region of 2.7 metric tonnes of large black tiger prawns. These derive from Africa as a wild product or sometimes as farmed. As with all warm water prawns they are caught/harvested and then frozen before being transported. They are very impressive visually and are commonly used as the wow item at a dinner party or peeled and put into a curry. However, I have never eaten them as neither of the aforementioned methods really grabbed me so I searched around for a simple but tasty recipe.

Pasta & Prawn Parcels

225grm dried pasta preferably fettuccine or linguine
75ml green pesto (decided to use homemade)
2tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
75ml dry white wine
salt and pepper

I started by making some green pesto by grinding basil leaves and garlic into a paste. Adding some crushed toasted pine nuts, parmigiano, olive oil and beating in butter my pesto was ready. After fully peeling and deveining I was left with eight succulent juicy prawns.

Gently boil the pasta for 4 minutes then drain and set aside. When the pasta has cooled mix with half of the pesto. Add I tsp of olive oil to the centre of each 12" square greaseproof sheets then divide the pasta evenly on the top. Lay on the prawns and then spoon on the remaining pesto and the crushed garlic. Season, sprinkle the wine over, seal the parcels and bake for 10-15 minutes on 200c/Gas Mark 6.

Such a simple dish but hugely tasty and maybe I've proved to myself that prawns are more than just for chucking of the bar-be and these large prawns do have an excellent taste and texture if not overcooked.