Easy Penne & Prawns With Chili Garlic
On the average weeknight, I tend to gravitate towards simple and fast recipes. Anything that is clean, healthy and can be just thrown together is really my jam. Insert prawns, penne, and a simple garlic chili sauce–an instant favorite.
This recipe was just a creation that came together from a craving of both pasta and something spicy. I had a few prawns in the freezer–I buy them organic and pre-cleaned which makes tossing them in anything super easy. So the combination was meant to be.
I use this brand of Italian chili–its the best and I literally crave it in almost anything–sauce, marinades, on a pizza–what have you. It’s so good and adds the perfect amount of heat to any dish. If I had fresh herbs in the house today I would have garnished this dish with a few spigs of basil and some chopped parsely–alas it’s still good by itself.
Ingredients
1 pound organic prawns, cleaned
favorite pasta–I use banza
1/2 red onion
3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp Italian chili
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp lemon pepper
1/4 parmesan cheese
juice of 1/2 a lemon
optional: fresh basil and parsley for garnish
Chop the onions and garlic.
In a medium pot, cook the pasta for half the time you normally would–it should be super al dente. Turn off the heat and cover.
Heat a large pan on medium with 1 tbsp olive oil. Add the garlic and onions and gently sauté for a few moments,
To the onions and garlic, add the prawns. Stir gently while cooking the prawns–about 1-2 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of the pasta water to the prawns. Cover and cook for another 3 minutes or until prawns are perfectly pink and cooked completely (prawns cook super quickly so this shouldn’t take longer than a few minutes),
Once cooked, drain the pasta from its remaining water and add the pasta to the prawn dish. Stir, squeezing in the lemon juice, pepper flakes, salt, lemon pepper, and parmesan.
I loooove parmesan so you may want to add more like me–you can also add more salt and seasonings if you prefer.
Serve immediately with fresh herbs and enjoy!
