Most of us think we are the masters of pasta with our own secret recipes, but few actually do it better than Andreas Papadakis. The Athens born Melbourne chef has pretty much perfected pasta dishes and is showing them off in his new book Tipo 00 – The Past Cookbook (Murdoch Books). Here’s the recipe for Andreas’s delicate and delightful Spaghetti with King Prawns & Cavolo. Give it a go!
The amazing thing about this dish is the prawn sauce, which is a basic Napoli tomato sauce simmered with the flavoured oil from the confit prawn shells and heads. The flavour is sensational.
Serves 2
Ingredients
4 large or extra-large king prawns, 400–500 g (14 oz–1 lb 2 oz) in total
150 g (5½ oz) cavolo nero (Tuscan kale)
225 g (8 oz) quality dried spaghetti – or ½ quantity master pasta dough (see page 23), cut into strips 30 cm (12 inches) long and 2 mm (1/16 inch) wide
olive oil
sea salt
For the Sauce
50 ml (1½ fl oz) olive oil
prawn heads and shells (from preparing the prawns)
1 sprig of thyme
1 sprig of sage
300 ml (10½ fl oz) Napoli tomato sauce (see page 219)
To Finnish
1 large clove of garlic, finely chopped
½ long red chilli, finely chopped, or more to taste
100 ml (3½ fl oz) dry white wine
squeeze of lemon juice
fennel fronds, to garnish – optional
Method
To prepare the prawns, take the head off the body, remove the livery parts under cold running water and reserve the head for the sauce. Peel the shell off the body, leaving only the tail segment, then remove the dark digestive tract that runs the length of the body. Reserve the shells for the sauce as well.
For the sauce, place a saucepan over medium heat, add half the olive oil and the reserved prawn heads and shells and cook really well for 5–6 minutes, stirring so they colour evenly. Add the herbs and Napoli tomato sauce and bring to a slow simmer. Add the remaining olive oil, cover the pan with a lid and cook the sauce over the lowest possible heat for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure it doesn’t catch on the bottom. Pass through a colander with large holes, pushing with the back of a ladle to squeeze the juices out of the prawn heads.
Strip the leaves of the cavolo nero from the stalks and discard the stalks. Wash the leaves and coarsely chop into large pieces, then blanch in boiling salted water for 2 minutes. Drain well and set aside.
To cook the prawns, place a frying pan over medium-low heat. Season the prawns with salt, drizzle with olive oil and cook for 1 minute on each side until just cooked. Remove from the pan and keep warm.
To finish, in the same frying pan, briefly saute the garlic and chilli in olive oil. Deglaze with the wine and simmer until reduced by half, then add the sauce and cavolo nero and bring to a simmer. Season with salt and cook for 2 minutes.
In the meantime, cook the spaghetti in plenty of boiling salted water until al dente, according to the instructions on the package for dried, or 3–4 minutes for fresh.
Drain the spaghetti (reserving some of the pasta water) and add to the sauce. Remove from the heat and toss for 1 minute to coat the pasta. Add the lemon juice and season with salt, if needed, then add just enough of the reserved pasta water to give you the perfect sauce consistency and toss again. Divide the spaghetti and sauce between warmed bowls. Briefly return the prawns to the frying pan, just to warm them through in the residual heat and coat them with the pan juices. Serve on top of the spaghetti and garnish with fennel fronds, if you like.
Images and text from Tipo00 The Pasta Cookbook by Andreas Papadakis, photography by Mark Roper, illustrations by Robin Cowcher. Murdoch Books RRP $49.99.
