Ah, what to cook for Valentine’s day. Well, let me say, this prawn pasta dish is just perfect! Juicy prawns and crayfish, flaky cod, cauliflower and fennel in a saffron white wine broth – paired with a new pasta shape from Le Moulin. It makes a portion for 4, but I usually freeze half the sauce – like that I can enjoy this fantastic dish twice, with only once the work!
500g Le Moulin Casarecce pasta
For the stock:
20 cooked prawns, unpeeled
400ml shellfish stock
80ml white wine
1 good pinch of saffron threats
For the sauce:
40g butter
1 onion
½ fennel bulb
½ tsp fennel seeds
350g cauliflower
100ml white wine
350g cod
150g crayfish
40ml Ricard
100g sour cream
salt and pepper
parsley, to serve
Serves 4 – Prep: 1h
Peel 12 prawns – put the heads and shells in a saucepan and set aside the prawns.
Add the shellfish stock and the white wine to the heads and prawns, bring to the boil and reduce for 6 minutes. Pour through a sieve, crumble in the saffron threads and set aside.
Peel and finely chop the onion. Finely shave the fennel with a mandolin. Cut the cauliflower into ½ cm thick slices.
Melt the butter in a big saucepan and fry the onion with the fennel, fennel seeds and a good pinch of salt for 5 minutes. Add the cauliflower and half the saffron stock, cover and cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring from time to time.
Cut the cod into 4 cm chunks and put it on top of the vegetables in the saucepan. Pour over the wine and remaining stock, then top off with a bit more water so that the fish is just covered. Cover with a lid and cook for 3 minutes.
After 3 minutes, carefully stir through the crayfish, the shelled and whole prawns and the Ricard. Cook, uncovered, for another 3 minutes.
Remove two ladles of the liquid and put it in a jug. Stir through the sour cream so that it fully melts, then pour back in the saucepan and carefully stir. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Cover with a lid and off the heat while you cook the pasta.
Cook the Le Moulin Casarecce pasta in boiling salted water for 8-10 minutes. Drain and distribute on 4 deep plates. Top each plate with a few generous ladles of seafood and sauce – you want a lot of sauce for this dish, as it is more of a soupy pasta dish.
Top each dish with 2 unpeeled prawns and sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving.
