Pistachio, Prawn & Crispy Prosciutto Pasta

This recipe will make you famous, well amongst your friends and family perhaps. Our perfect Sunday TV dinner in front of YTT. For those outside of Australia, YTT stands for Young Talent Time, it was a really wholesome kid’s variety TV show that my generation grew up watching in the 70’s & 80’s. I guess it’s the Mickey-Mouse Club Down Under... and last week made its comeback to TV last week 20 years later (mmm..Showing my age here!). Some regulars that ‘made it’ from this show include Tina Arena and Dannii Minogue. I remember clearly when they had a siblings segment and Dannii introduced her sister Kylie to Australia. I clearly recall my 9 year old self dancing around the living room to YTT with teased fringe and a drawn-on Madonna beauty spot, wishing one day of fame and fortune just like the YTT’ers. It never did happen just as my childhood fantasy had imagined, but I wouldn’t honestly change a thing! This recipe may just give me my 5 minutes of fame, well, on this website anyway - it’s a simple and speedy and an oh so tasty delight! As our giant basil plants are starting to flower slightly I recently made another big batch of pesto, replacing the pinenuts with toasted pistachios. It gives a slightly sweeter and crunchier pesto. And superstar delicious of course. The other vegie which is a special guest in this dish and about to be in great abundance in our vegie patch is the humble tomato. I’m keen for any imaginative tomato recipes, please send on over and I’ll give them a go from my Vegie Patch to plate. Serves 2 hungry rockstars. 

Our Tomatoes are getting there.

Stuff you need: 1 large saucepan; a large frypan (I use my wok); chopping board; tongs;

Ingredients from my vegie patch
2 x large tomatoes
4 x small cherry tomatoes
2 x large tbsp. pistachio pesto (see Pesto Festo and swap out pinenuts for pistachios)

2 x sm sprigs of basil

Other Ingredients
2 x clove garlic
250gm x green prawns, fully peeled (with our without tails, you choose)
50gm x prosciutto finely sliced
150gm x pasta (I used angel hair spaghetti for this dish)
25gm x shelled pistachios
Olive Oil for cooking
Cracked black pepper to taste

Its showtime (yes, so corny but I felt obliged!!)

1.       Fill a large saucepan ¾ with hot water, add a pinch of salt and bring to the boil.
2.       Meanwhile fry Prosciutto on both sides in your frying pan for a few minutes on medium heat with a touch of olive oil until well cooked and starting to shrivel up a bit. (Don’t burn!) Put aside on kitchen paper. Don’t wash frypan; you are going to use the juices.
3.       Chop tomatoes into small pieces and leave to side.
4.       Pop spaghetti (or any pasta) into boiling water for 8 – 10 min or until al dente.
5.       Chop garlic finely, fry in 1 teaspoon of olive oil/prosciutto juice for a min, and add prawns and pesto. Sauté for a min or two until prawns just cooked through
6.       Drain pasta, and the add pasta back into prawn and pesto saucepan. Add chopped tomatoes. Give a good stir through to ensure all flavours are mixed together.
7.       Serve pasta into bowls and sprinkle roasted pistachio’s and top with crispy prosciutto and a sprig of basil.
8.       Give a good crack of black pepper and enjoy the show.

Serve with a big glass of chilled Clare Valley Reisling

Soundtrack for your childhood dreams: Breakfast Club soundtrack.