Nduja butter & prawn lumache pasta
A recipe for a cosy lockdown evening.
Winter is cold and lockdown is upon us again. I have been spending lots of time in my kitchen, cooking, drinking wine and snacking. Also time on my couch, resting. So far over the last few days, I have made pissaladiere, spanish rice with sausage and lamb, potato and radicchio salad and sea perch with capers, butter and citrus. Also, nduja butter and prawn lumache. Based on a recipe I created for my Pop-Up Trattoria over the summer and working with the colder weather of July, I put together this recipe for something you can make that feels a little lush but at the same time is a simple comforting plate of pasta to get you through these days at home.
Nduja and prawns: the fatty, spicy salami paste and the soft shellfish intertwine, working so beautifully together. The slight heat of the nduja melts into the prawn warming you within. I chose lumache pasta as it is a good sauce catcher - and that is exactly what I want with this sauce. The big holes in the lumache catch the red sauce and hold the little pieces of prawn meat acting almost like a cute parcel for you to pop into your mouth.
When you think of tomatoes and prawns your mind may take you oceanside in the summertime. That is true if you are using a handful of fleshy cherry tomatoes and seasonal basil, but during the colder months a rich and warming sauce can be created using beautiful quality whole peeled tinned tomatoes, hot chilli, a bit of butter and parsley as a herb for freshness.
The extra step to making this sauce is the prawn stock. It adds depth and makes the whole thing a little more special. The leftover stock can be kept in the fridge or freezer and used in other dishes for extra umami richness.
Enjoy and please send me a message if you have any questions about the process. X
Nduja butter & prawn lumache
Serves 4 people
What you will need for the nduja butter -
100g unsalted butter, cubed and at room temperature
80g nduja
To make the nduja butter, either by hand with a sturdy spatula or in a cake mixer, whip together the butter and nduja until it is combined and one consistent reddish colour. Set aside for later.
What you will need for the prawn stock -
800g raw whole prawns
2 sticks of celery, washed
1 big carrot, washed
2 brown onions, skin left on and cut in half
1/2 a big bulb of fennel or 1 whole small bulb
A generous splash of white wine
To make the stock place the vegetables in a pot and cover with water (you don’t want too much water, just enough to cover the vegetables).
Take the head and shell off the prawns and then devein the leftover prawn meat (discard the intestine and keep the prawn meat aside for later).
Warm a tablespoon of oil in a wide pan over a medium-high heat. When the oil is hot add the prawn heads and shells and stir. Every now and then press down on the heads to release the juices (there is so much flavour in them). Once the heads and shells have got some colour on them and smell fragrant (about five minutes) add in a generous splash of white wine and let the pan bubble up. Reduce the wine for a minute and then pour the head, shells and liquid into the pot with the vegetables and give everything a stir. Place the pot over medium-high heat and bring the liquid to a boil before taking it down to a gentle simmer for about an hour.
After an hour strain the vegetables and prawn heads/shells from the liquid, pressing down to make sure you extract all the flavour into the stock. You will use 1 cup of the stock in the red sauce, save the rest for another time.
What you will need for the red sauce -
This recipe serves 4 people
8 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
400g good quality whole peeled tinned tomatoes, crushed with your hands
Extra virgin olive oil
Cracked black pepper
Flakey salt
1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
1 cup of the strained prawn stock
400g lumache pasta (or a medium tubular shaped pasta like seashells, rigatoni or paccheri)
The prawn meat, chopped up into small pieces
65g nduja butter
A handful of parsley, washed and roughly chopped
To make this silky red sauce, pour 4 tablespoons of olive oil in a large frying pan and add the garlic. Put the pan over a low heat so that the olive oil and garlic warm together gently, until the garlic is very softly sizzling and smells fragrant. Once the garlic is golden (not brown) add the tomatoes and stir together. Season with a big pinch of black pepper, a big pinch of salt and the fennel seeds. Raise the heat slightly and leave to bubble away until the tomato has thickened slightly, about fifteen minutes or so.
Now add one cup of the prawn stock to the red sauce - the sauce will look quite loose now. Raise the heat again slightly and once again let the sauce bubble away until it has reduced slightly and thickened up again (about twenty minutes), giving the pan a stir every now and then. Taste now for salt - you will probably want to add a generous pinch at this point.
Once the red sauce is ready cook the pasta. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add salt to the water (make sure you can taste the salt in the water). Stir, add the pasta, stir again and cook until al dente.
Three minutes before the end of the pasta cooking time, melt the nduja butter in a pan over medium heat, add in the prawn meat, raise the heat for about two minutes and stir. Transfer the just cooked prawns into the red sauce, turn up the heat and fold them through for one minute.
Lift the pasta directly into the sauce, add the parsley, and a ladle of the pasta cooking water and toss everything well for another minute or so (this extra time on the heat will allow the prawns to fully cook through). To make a glossy creamy sauce that clings to the lumache you need to emulsify - this means shake the pan and energetically stir the sauce and pasta together. Add more pasta water if you need to loosen the sauce and emulsify some more. Serve immediately with extra parsley on top.
