linguine al nero di seppia con gamberoni
squid ink linguine with king prawns
Squid ink in pasta or/and as part of a sauce can create a visually stunning dish. Making an inky sauce can be tricky and some may even be unsure about eating a black sauce, so an alternative is to try and track down dry pasta that’s already had squid ink added to it. It’s a much more subtle flavour than what you’ll get if you use fresh in a sauce, so it’s a better bet for easing the uninitiated into eating squid ink.
WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO DO
(scroll down for the full method)
if you need to, de-vein the prawns
chop the parsley
grate the lemon zest
make the dressing
sear prawns
boil and cook the pasta
combine ingredients with pasta
squid ink linguine with king prawns
INGREDIENTS
FOR FOUR PEOPLE
450g raw king prawns
2 anchovy fillets
1 clove garlic
lemon juice, EVO to taste
parsley leaves
lemon zest
PASTA
400g dry squid ink linguine (Pasta Morelli)
MANTECATURA (?)
slight
METHOD
Start by de-veining your prawns, then set them aside. Chop a big handful of fresh parsley leaves (no stalks!) and grate one lemon to get the zest of the entire fruit. I prefer old-fashioned kitchen graters which produce fine, sawdust-like zest - not ‘micro-plane’ or any grater that produces tiny little ribbons or flakes of zest. Next prepare a lemon juice and EVO ‘dressing’ with the juice of the lemon, a half of a crushed clove of garlic, about 3 tablespoons of EVO, salt and black pepper. Adjust the balance of flavours to taste.
Start heating your pasta water and a heavy iron pan lightly wiped in EVO for the prawns. Once it’s stupidly hot, add the de-veined prawns and keep the pan on a medium heat until they’re cooked half-way through, but don’t stir or move them at all. At this point you can flip them over to cook on the other side with a fish slice, and switch the heat off. Don’t touch them or stir, just leave them in the pan to cook with its residual heat, while the pasta cooks (my linguine were from Pasta Morelli and cook in less than 5 minutes, which was perfect for the prawns to finish cooking. Adjust your timing for starting the prawns about 10 min before the pasta’s due to be cooked.
Fish the pasta out of the cooking water and dress and toss in a pasta wok with your lemon and oil and garlic dressing, and add the prawns. Garnish with sprinkles of lemon zest, parsley and cayenne pepper.
NUTRITION per serving
KCAL: 468
Fat (g): 4.7
Sat Fat (g): 0.8
Carb (g): 69.1
Sug (g): 3.4
Fibre(g): 2.9
Prot (g): 34.4
Salt (g): 0.87
Nutritional information is provided as an indication only of approximate values for the recipe on this page. You should make your own calculations if you have specific dietry requirements or are required to follow a strict calorie-controlled diet.
