This is my favorite pasta with prawns. I just kind of threw these ingredients together at home a few years ago and have been making it since cause it tastes just divine! It is very quick to make and so delicious. In fact it is so good, you can totally serve it for a nice dinner with friends. Takes only 15 minutes to make, so simple and easy it is.
I used urfa chili flakes in this, but feel free to use any type of chili flakes you have on hand.
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 packet fresh fettuccine
1 small chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 chopped red chillies
splash of white wine
250 grams shrimp or prawns (peeled with tails left on)
4-6 tablespoons cream
1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes
salt
pepper
lemon zest of half a lemon
juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon depending on your taste
1 – 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
Place your salted water on the hob to boil for the fettuccine.
Heat oil in a frying pan, and add your onion and garlic. Cook for a couple of minutes and stir on med heat. Now add in your prawns and chopped red chili. Stir. Add salt and pepper. When prawns start to go a bit pink, add a splash of white wine. Stir. Once the wine has dried a little add in your cream, lemon juice, lemon zest, chili flakes and dill. Drop you fettuccine in the water (should only take 2-3 minutes). Cook for another minute or so till every thing is warm and comes together. Do not over cook your prawns.
Drain your pasta and add to the sauce. Toss. Serve at once, sprinkled with some more dill on top and parmesan if you like.
A quick and beautiful light salad with great flavors. I really have not been cooking much from the book Plenty by Ottolenghi which I had acquired with great enthusiasm about a year ago, just last week I was thinking that I really need to get more use out of this book… while hungary this afternoon and wanting to eat healthy and simultaneously thinking I need to try out all that Quinoa and other whole grains I ordered a few months ago and still had not even cracked open the packets, I thought Plenty would give me some options for sure, so I took a quick look and found this little number mainly cause I had most of the ingredients at home to make this quinoa salad.
The original recipe uses fava beans, but I had way too many snow peas in my fridge so decided to use them instead. I did a quick cook stir fry with them with half a teaspoon oil and a bit of salt and pepper, making sure I still kept some crunch and got some charring marks. For the chilli in this salad, I used a beautiful new chili I discovered recently thanks to my sister-in-law as we went walkabout around Boston and she took me to a great Armenian grocery store in Cambridge. I got some gorgeous dark smokey Urfa Chilli from Turkey and was dying to try it out. I used it for the first time in this recipe instead of normal chili flakes. Beautiful it was! I highly recommend adding it too your spice collection, thanks Hil for bringing it to my world!
The recipe does call for lemon segments, which maybe a bit to tangy for some. I would break the lemon segments into smaller bits next time, because you suddenly can get a big mouthful of zingy sourness. It’s really nice with a bit of avocado but a bit too much for me at times. Or you could just squeeze the juice of the lemon and mix in the salad. I have to say I also added a few drops of soy sauce to the salad and really made it pop. Mix it with your lemon juice, and it is just amazing.
Serves 6
Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa
500 grams or 1 lb. (3 cups) shelled fava beans (fresh or frozen)
2 medium lemons
2 small ripe avocados
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 bunches breakfast radishes, halved lengthways
1 cup purple radish cress (or small purple basil leaves)
1 tbsp ground cumin
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 tsp chili flakes
Salt and black pepper
1 teaspoon soy sauce (my recommendation)
Instructions:
Step 1: Place the quinoa in a saucepan with plenty of water, bring to a boil and simmer for 9 minutes.
Step 2: Drain in a fine sieve, rinse under cold water and leave to dry.
Step 3: Throw the fava beans into a pan of boiling water, bring back to a boil and immediately drain in a colander. Refresh with cold water and leave to dry. Then gently press each bean with your fingers to remove the skins; discard these. Take the lemons and use a small sharp knife to slice off the top and base. Stand each one on a chopping board and cut down the sides, following the natural curve, to remove the skin and white pith. Over a large mixing bowl, cut in between the membranes to release the individual segments into the bowl. Squeeze the juice from the membrane into the bowl with the segments.
Step 4: Peel and stone the avocados. Slice thinly, then add to the bowl and toss to cover in the lemon juice.
Step 5: Once the quinoa is dry, transfer it to the bowl. Add the fava beans, garlic, radishes, half the radish cress, the cumin, olive oil, chili flakes and some salt and pepper.
Step 6: Toss very gently, without breaking the avocado. Taste and add more salt and pepper, if you wish. Plate and garnish with the remaining cress.
From the amazing Moroccan pancakes with honey or chestnut preserve/paste for breakfast, to the gorgeous refreshing salads with combinations like orange with dates, beetroot with cumin, and the beautiful meat dishes like chicken with olives and preserved lemon and lamb with prunes…I really love Moroccan food…. I love how Moroccans combine sweet fruits with meat and use the most gorgeous spice combinations. I feel its a little like Indian food but without the hassle of long hours of cooking and browning (bhunnoing) onions and masalas. So I really got into it when I got back from there years ago…I got myself the book “The food of Morocco – a food lovers journey”, where I discovered this gorgeous recipe.
One of my favorite ingredients from Morocco is preserved lemons, it adds a gorgeous zingy flavor to anything and is perfect in these meatballs. They are so so different to any indian koftas or italian meatballs and so very tasty and relatively fast to make. It is worth noting that you can still make this dish if you don’t have preserved lemons, as the lemon juice does give some lemon flavor.
I love to serve this with a nice Moroccan salad and warm pitta breads, and a good harissa as a condiment if you like a touch of spice.
MEATBALLS WITH HERBS & LEMON
TAGINE KEFTA ‘MCHERMEL
MEATBALLS
1/2 brown onion, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons roughly chopped flat leaf parsley
2 slices white bread, crusts removed
1 egg
500g minced lamb or beef
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
HERB & LEMON SAUCE
1 tbsp butter or oil
1/2 brown onion
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1 red chilli
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
375 ml chicken stock or water
2 tbsp chopped coriander
2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 preserved lemon (optional)
Put the onions and parsley in the food processor bowl and process until finely chopped. Tear the bread into pieces, add to the bowl with the egg and process briefly. Add the meat, cumin, paprika, black pepper and 1 teaspoon salt and process to thick paste, scraping down the side of the bowl occasionally. Alternatively grate the onion, chop the parsley, crumb the bread and add to the mince in a bowl with the egg, spices and seasoning. Knead until paste-like in consistency.
With moistened hands, shape the mixture into walnut-sized balls and place them on a tray. Cover and refrigerate until required.
To make the herb and lemon sauce, heat the butter or oil in a saucepan and add the onion. Cook over low heat for 8 minutes until softened. Add the paprika, turmeric, cumin and chili or cayenne pepper and cook, stirring for 1 minute. Add the stock and coriander and bring to the boil.
Add the meatballs, shaking the pan so that they settle into the sauce. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes. Add most of the parsley and the lemon juice and season if necessary. Return to the simmer for 2 minutes. If using preserved lemon, rinse well under running water, remove and discard the pulp and membrane and cut the rind into strips. Add to the meatballs. Transfer to a tagine or bowl, scatter with the remaining parsley and serve with crusty bread or pittas.
