CHILLI PRAWN LINGUINE WITH GARLIC BREADCRUMBS

A side dish in a main dish as one dish. That's what's going on here. Classic prawn linguine with all the good stuff given an extra level of crunch and delight with a simple and delicious technique. Powerful date night food.

15-20 Mins

Ingredients

(To Serve 2)

FOR THE CRUMB

‍2 Slices of Bread
2 Cloves of Garlic
Tablespoon Olive Oil
Crack of Black Pepper
Teaspoon of Oregano
Pinch of Salt
Half Teaspoon Chilli Flakes
2 Tablespoons Grated Parmesan

FOR THE PASTA

150g Raw King Prawns
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Tablespoon Salted Butter
3 Cloves Garlic
Half a Red Chilli
250g Dry Linguine
Crack of Black Pepper
200g Spinach
200ml White Wine
Juice of Half A Lemon
150ml Double Cream
Crack of Black Pepper
2-3 Tablespoons Grated Parmesan
Handful Fresh Parsley

Ingredients

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Get your crumbly crumb ready first by chopping your bread into crouton sizes. It doesn't matter what bread you use but think a slice per person. When cubed, stick it in a bowl and crush your garlic cloves. Add your olive oil, black pepper, salt, oregano and chilli flakes. Mix with your hand. Make sure to wash it first though. Hygiene is key. When the bread bits are all nicely covered in flavour; slap them on an oven tray and give them 10 minutes in the heat. If they're not crispy after that long, give them a couple of moments extra but whatever you do - do not let them burn. These can be set aside when done.
Get your prawns in the same bowl that you mixed your bread in and grate in a clove of garlic with a splash of olive oil. Mix that about and set aside to lightly marinate. Get a pan of water boiling away and mix in a tablespoon of salt. Add your linguine and cook for about 6 minutes until almost done - but not quite. We're going to finish it in saucy business.
In a hot pan, cook your prawns until they're entirely pink and season them with a bit of black pepper, then set them aside. Dice up your chilli finely and peel a clove of garlic. I like to use a little grater to grate it in but you can just chop it up finely if you want. Add a splash of olive oil and a little knob of butter to your pan and soften the chilli for a minute or so before adding your garlic. It's very important not to burn things at this stage. Add about a glass of white wine and cook that off a bit. Chuck in your spinach with a little bit of pasta water then cover this to wilt the spinach. Bang the heat on low/off.
Now we can address the garlic bread crumb. Blitz your croutons with the garlic pieces in a food processor. Grate in your parmesan. Drain and add your linguine to the spinach chilli mixture and stir about. Whack the heat back up a bit and add lemon juice and cream. Add some black pepper and parmesan. Stir and set aside on a low heat. Pop your crumbs in a frying pan with a splash of olive oil and toast them up for a couple of minutes to get them extra crunchy.
Chop some parsley finely. Stir your prawns through the linguine and then stir in a handful of parsley. Serve in a nice little bowl with a good sprinkling of crispy garlic crumbs and some fresh parsley. Do a backflip because it really is that good.