Prawn & Coppa Tagliatelle

This is my can't go wrong pasta... the combination of seafood and cured pork make for a sauce that not only is tasty, produces a fantastic aroma. Substitute Prawns for Fish, Coppa for Bacon - whatever, but get these 2 flavors rolling around on your plate, and you will have no regrets.

Cooking time:

15 mins to prep ingredients, about 20 mins cooking time. (You start to cook the sauce when you put the water on to boil for the Pasta)

Big hints for a winning result:

Prawns:

Slice them as you desire for apparence on the dish... however, perfectly cooked Prawns should "pop" in your mouth when you eat them - if you have a meat texture - such as orange pre cooked Prawns(which that texture is reserved for), you have over cooked them. Lastly, soak the Prawns(while shells are on) in a little water while prepping - a couple of tablespoons of this Prawn "liqour" into the end result sauce will give a terrific seafood undertone.

Garlic:

For a bigger Garlic flavour, chop it, dont mince it.... and add it to onions, saute for 1 minute before adding Pasata sauce.

Coppa:

Ask the deli to have it sliced as thinly as possible - as it's going into the dish raw/cold.

Salt:

As there is salty ingredients - Coppa and Prawns, use a milder salt such as Murray River Pink salt - which you will find allows you to use a little extra during seasoning without risk of over salting.

Pasta:

The more water you cook your Pasta in the better the result.

Ingredients -

1 tablespoon of Butter

1 tablespoon of Balsamic Vinegar(not the caramalised version)

1 good lug of Olive Oil for Onions

4 Anchovies - including 1 dash of the Anchovie oil

4 cloves of Garlic, crushed & chopped

3 medium sized Onions (white for best results)

500 mls of Pasata sauce(Tomato puree)

1 cup of roughly chopped flat leaf Parsley

1/2 cup of roughly chopped fresh Basil

16 green Prawns chopped on the diagonal - into 3 pieces

12 thin slices of Coppa sliced into bite sized lengths.

Tagliatelle - 4 serves.

Salt n Pepper for seasoning

Prep:

1. Get your Pasta water on for the boil - this will be a quick sauce to make.

2. Saute Onions and Anchovies in the Olive Oil(with dash of Anchovie oil), until onions are translucent/soft.

3. Add Garlic, saute for 1 min.

4. Add Basil, saute for further 30 seconds.

5. Add Pasata sauce.

6. Immediately add water from Prawns to the sauce.

7. Season with Salt n Pepper.

8. Simmer until Pasta water has boiled, add Pasta then IMMEDIATELY turn sauce off the heat. Add Butter, Balsamic & prawns to sauce, place a lid on the pan, and let the prawns steep.

9. Once the Pasta is cooked, add 1 laddle of the pasta water to the sauce, drain then place immediately into a large mixing bowl, add the Tomato sauce, Coppa & Parsley.

Toss and serve.

Feel free to let me know how you went, or any suggestions to enhance this simple recipe....

Cheers

Andy