📋Italian Pasta With Prawns and Cherry Tomatoes

Light and fresh, this Pasta With Prawns and Cherry Tomatoes is a perfect one-dish meal, full of sweetness from the shrimp and the cherry tomatoes. A light and creamy sauce with stir-fried cherry tomatoes and shallots finished with fresh basil, no need for cream. So easy to make, it is ready in only 20 minutes. Add some small scallops or lobster tails for a fancy dinner, and deglaze with a dry white wine.

Course Pasta

Cuisine Italian

Keyword pasta with prawns, seafood pasta, Shrimp pasta

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 20

Total Time 40

Servings people

Calories 583kcal

Author Laura Tobin

Equipment

Ingredients

20 fresh whole prawns
10 small scallops optional
1 lb cherry tomatoes
1 shallot
10 fresh basil leaves
½ cup dry white wine optional
salt & pepper
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 lb long pasta long fusilli or linguine
1 tablespoon salt for pasta

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Prepare the sauce

Clean and slice the shallots
Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and chop the basil
In a frying pan, stir fry the shallot with 2 tablespoon of olive oil
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, 1 shallot
Once the shallot is translucent, add the cherry tomatoes cut in half and the chopped basil leaves. Stir and season it
1 lb cherry tomatoes, 10 fresh basil leaves
Let it simmer covered for 15 minutes, at low heat. Stirring occasionally.

Start cooking the pasta

In the meantime boil the salted water for the pasta
1 tablespoon salt for pasta
Cook the pasta al dente, I usually boil 1 minute less than what indicated on the pasta package
1 lb long pasta

Using unpeeled prawns

Add the whole prawns (with heads on) to the pan and stir-fry over low heat until they turn pink.
Deglaze the pan with a splash of dry white wine and allow the alcohol to cook off for about a minute.
Once the prawns are fully pink, remove them from the pan to prevent overcooking.

Peeling and deveining the prawns

Devein the prawns by making a shallow incision along the back and carefully removing the dark digestive tract.
Devein the prawns by making a shallow incision along the back and carefully removing the dark digestive tract.

Using peeled prawns

Add the prawns and simmer for a few more minutes until they are cooked.
20 fresh whole prawns, 10 small scallops
Once the seafood is cooked, you can add some dry white wine.
½ cup dry white wine

Adding the prawns back

Return the peeled and deveined prawns to the pan to warm them through in the sauce.
Add the cooked pasta, drained one minute before al dente, directly to the pan with the sauce.
Season with black pepper and serve immediately

Video

Notes

To know if shrimps (or prawns) are fresh, touch their shells, and if they are slimy, I won't buy them.
I clean and devein the shrimps for this recipe, but do not throw away the head and the shells as they make a fantastic fish stock.
If you don't have fresh shrimp, you can use frozen ones, but they have to be raw, and make sure you choose good quality large prawns.
Defrost completely before using them; otherwise, they will be too watery.
I added some small scallops to the shrimp, and you can also use other seafood like calamari/squid or mussels.
Remember: seafood should not cook for too long. Always add at the end and remove from the stove as soon as the seafood is cooked.
For this recipe, I used fusilli lunghi. I like this pasta because it is nice and firm. You can use linguini or spaghettoni.
Usually, when I cook fish, I prefer to use shallots than onions as shallots have a more delicate flavor.
I also use cherry tomatoes as they are nice and sweet, but you can also use long fresh tomatoes like Roma or San Marzano.
To make a creamy sauce without adding anything, you must ensure the cherry tomatoes simmer covered at low temperatures.
If you want more juices, add some water from the pasta, as the starch released will act as a thickening agent.
You can add ½ cup of white wine at the end before adding the pasta for extra flavor. Let it evaporate for 1 minute.
Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce as soon as it is ready. Combine immediately.

Nutrition