Creamy Garlic Prawn Pasta

4.98 from 123 votes

Recipe VIDEO above. Pasta tossed with a garlic infused creamy sauce and plump, juicy prawns! (Shrimp) This pasta version of Creamy Garlic Prawns is a quick meal you'll get on the table in 20 minutes, this is luscious but it's not too rich. The key is to emulsify the sauce (i.e. thicken it) by tossing the pasta in the sauce just before serving - this is the proper Italian way to make pasta.

Serves 4.

Prep Time5

Cook Time20

Total Time25

Course: Main

Cuisine: Western

Keyword: creamy prawn pasta, creamy shrimp pasta, garlic prawn pasta

Servings:

Calories: 864cal

Author: Nagi

Ingredients

12 oz / 350g fettuccine , or other long strand pasta of choice
50 g / 3 tbsp unsalted butter , separated
500 g / 1 lb small or medium peeled prawns / shrimp , raw or 1kg / 2 lb whole unpeeled (Note 1)
4 garlic cloves , finely minced with a knife
1/2 cup Chardonnay or other dry white wine (Note 2 for sub)
1 1/4 cups heavy / thickened cream or regular cream, pouring cream etc, full fat (Note 3)
1/2 cup chicken broth (or fish or vegetable broth), preferably low sodium
3/4 cup (75 g) finely grated parmesan cheese (freshly grated) (Note 4)
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley , optional
Black pepper
Parmesan , for serving

Instructions

Cook pasta - Bring to boil a large pot of water. Add a big pinch of salt and the pasta, then cook per packet MINUS 1 minute - it will finish cooking in the sauce later so we want it slightly under. (Note 5).
Reserve water - Just before draining, scoop out 1 cup of pasta cooking water and set aside, we need this to thicken the sauce later. Drain pasta.
Lightly cook prawns in 2 batches - Meanwhile, melt about 1/3 of the butter in a large non stick skillet over medium high heat. Add half the prawns, spread out, and cook for 1 1/2 minutes, then turn and toss using 2 spatulas for another 1 - 1 1/2 minutes until just barely cooked (the prawns will cook more in the sauce). Remove prawns into a bowl. Repeat - add half the remaining butter, cook the remaining prawns then remove.
Sauté garlic - In the same skillet, add the remaining butter. Once melted, add the garlic and stir for 20 seconds until fragrant (don't let it burn, lower heat it needed).
Deglaze - Add wine and stir. Simmer rapidly for 2 minutes, scraping the pan to dissolve any bits stuck to it into the liquid, until wine mostly evaporates (see video).
Sauce - Add cream, broth and parmesan. Stir until the parmesan is melted, then leave to simmer for 1 1/2 minutes until it thickens slightly - it will still be quite watery though which is fine, it will thicken more in next step.
Toss & thicken sauce - Add prawns, pasta plus about 1/4 cup of reserved pasta water. Toss pasta energetically (still on stove on medium high) and in 1 to 2 minutes, the sauce will thicken and start clinging to the pasta. It will seem like nothing is happening at first but trust the process, it will happen! If you take it too far and the sauce gets too thick, add a small splash of remaining reserved pasta cooking water to loosen and toss again (you can do this repeatedly as needed).
Finish - Add most of the parsley and a grind of black pepper, taste and check if you need salt (I don't need more), then give it a quick toss.
Serve immediately, garnished with remaining parsley and parmesan if desired.

Notes

1. PRAWN / SHRIMP SIZE: I prefer using small and medium ones for pasta because it disperses better in pasta. For large or king prawns, you may wish to cut in half lengthwise, or even into pieces.

FROZEN PRAWNS: I usually make this with frozen peeled prawns because it's a pain to peel small prawns. Thaw thoroughly and pat dry with paper towel before cooking (otherwise they just sort of braise in residual water that leaches).

TIP: Reserve the thawing liquid and use that as part of the broth required in this recipe. It's like a free seafood broth!

2. WINE: Chardonnay is my default white wine for cooking these days (adds good flavour whereas sauvignon blanc doesn't do much), but any dry white is fine. Sweet, really fruity ones like some rieslings aren't really suitable, also avoid very woody wines.

Non alcoholic substitute - chicken or vegetable broth/stock (low sodium).

3. CREAM: This recipe will work fine with any full fat cream, but the sauce thickens faster / better with heavy / thickened cream. If you use light cream, the sauce will be thinner but it will still work - you really need to keep tossing the pasta in the sauce until it coats the pasta.

4. PARMESAN: Must use freshly grated! Store bought won't melt smoothly. If you measure by cup rather than weight, be sure to press the grated parmesan is because the volume is greater i.e. 75g parmesan is an enormous mounded cup when not pressed down, 3/4 cup when tightly pressed. I find it easiest to measure by weight.

5. Reduce the cooking time because we finish cooking the pasta in the sauce (key step for this recipe).

6. Nutrition per serving, assuming 4 servings.

Nutrition