Tomato and Chilli Prawn Pasta

It’s been a bumper year for tomatoes from the garden here! While you really can’t beat home-grown, the problem is that they all tend to ripen at the same time! There is a limit to how many fresh tomatoes you can eat before they go off! So one solution is to cook them all down into a lovely rich fresh tomato sauce – like in this recipe for Tomato and Chilli Prawn Pasta.

I’ve mentioned the many nutritional benefits of the humble tomato before in my recipe for fresh tomato salsa. Tomatoes ripened on the plant, rather than being picked early and artificially ripened are the most nutritious.

If you have an autumn glut of tomatoes, I really recommend the basic tomato sauce recipe here. It works particularly well with those over-ripe tomatoes that you might have missed.

In fact, if you find an offer on over-ripe tomatoes at the local market, I would buy them and make the basic sauce recipe in bulk. Use some for the tomato and chilli prawn pasta and freeze the rest.

You can freeze it in batches (with or without the chilli) and have it as a handy taste of summer in the depths of winter – just add prawns, cooked chicken or beans to it. Or simply enjoy it on its own with a bowl of pasta.

I’ve kept the recipe not only simple, but quick too! Some recipes call for simmering tomato sauces for ages to reduce. Since the idea is to a) reduce the liquid content and b) break down the tomatoes, I can see no reason. I just cook it down rapidly to hasten the process. It tastes great and saves time that I’d rather spend running 🙂

As always, let me know in the comments below what you think of this recipe for tomato and chilli prawn pasta – and please share any changes that you made.

If you want other pasta recipes, please search on the home page. You might want to try ratatouille and cannellini bean pasta, or tuna puttanesca, for example.

Happy running and fuelling! 🙂

5 from 1 vote

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Tomato and Chilli Prawn Pasta

A fresh tomato and chilli sauce forms the basis for this tasty dish.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Keyword tomato and chilli prawn pasta

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Servings 2

Ingredients

• 1 kg ripe tomatoes
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp dried chilli flakes or to taste
• 375g raw king prawns
• 150 g dried wholewheat spaghetti
• 1 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

Instructions

1. First, skin the tomatoes. Place in a large bowl and pour boiling water to cover. Leave for 1 minute, drain and rinse under cold water. The skins will easily peel off. Roughly chop the tomatoes.

2. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion and garlic and cook gently for about 5 minutes, until the onion is soft.

3. Add the chilli flakes and tomatoes. Cook fairly rapidly, stirring from time to time for about 30 minutes, or until the tomatoes are broken down and the liquid volume is reduced down into a thick sauce. With about 5 minutes to go,  cook the spaghetti, according to the pack instructions.

4. Add the king prawns to the sauce and cook gently for 5 minutes, until the prawns turn pink and are cooked through. Don't overcook the prawns, or they will become tough.

5. Divide the pasta between 2 warmed serving bowls. Spoon the sauce over and sprinkle with the parsley.