We normally associate drunken prawns with Asian food where the prawn or shrimps are cooked in Chinese or rice wine. I westernised this version for my pasta recipe and cooked my fresh green prawns in dry white wine which I got from Dan Murphy’s. I wasn’t sure which dry white cooking wine to get so I asked the guy at Dan Murphy’s and he asked me what I was cooking and I told him prawn pasta. He suggested I try the Semillon Sauvignon Blanc which provides racy acidity, fruitiness of lemon, grapefruit and passionfruit which would be particularly delicious in seafood dishes.
Here is my recipe for this dish prawn pasta dish, using Barilla’s Basil and Rocket pesto, which is a tasty combination of fresh Mediterranean herbs such as basil, parsley, marjoram, thyme and rocket, blended with a touch of Pecorino Romano, so no need to sprinkle parmesan cheese.
This pasta dish took me about 20 minutes to make and would make an easy weeknight recipe or a dish to prepare for entertaining friends on a weekend.
Ingredients (serves 2)
1 jar Barilla Rocket Pesto
Hand full of Barilla Blue Box Spaghetti
1 bunch asparagus (cut in thirds and break off the bottom)
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Pinch of rock salt for pasta water
1/3 cup dry white wine
12 large fresh prawns, peeled
Instructions
1. Bring plenty of water to the boil in a large saucepan. When boiling, add rock salt.
2. Heat oil in a large fry pan, add prawns for 2 minutes, then add dry white wine until the wine evaporates then add asparagus and cook for a further 2 minutes.
3. Drop the pasta into the water and stir. Cook according to the instructions on the pack.
4. Drain pasta 1 minute before the suggested cooking time and toss it with all ingredients for another 1 minute.
5. Remove from heat and add the Barilla Rocket Pesto, stirring to combine.
