Do you ever wish you could describe your life through food
and drink? Wouldn’t that be beautiful? Your favourite food as a child or
perhaps your worst food as a child! The dish you ordered on a magical night out
with your partner, the first dish you cooked, the wine you drank at your
wedding or perhaps the champagne at your graduation. Food and drink plays such
an important part in our lives and a great dish, just like a great song, can
conjure up so many wonderful memories. I
think that’s why N and I often go back to the same restaurants again and again
and even the same holiday destinations. It’s the sense of familiarity it
brings, the sense of comfort and the feeling of belonging.
Carluccio’s is a place that brings back the fondest memories
for me. N and I went there for our first date. I know it’s just a high street
chain restaurant but the food is wonderful and generally consistent and I love having a
look around their food store while I wait for my table. I’ve picked up some
great treats there that have since become staples in my larder. And my signature dish….Spaghetti alle Vongole.
I have to thank N for introducing me to this one. It’s so delicious we’ve been
known to leave restaurants if they’ve run out of it. Carluccio’s does a
fantastic job at producing this dish but we’ve also found other great versions
in Paris, Sorrento and at a fantastic little family run Italian trattoria on
the Gray’s Inn Road in Holborn called L’Osteria 57. The wonderful thing about
this place is they let us tailor the dish to our taste so we often swop the
traditional clams for mussels and prawns to give it a bit of a twist.
This dish can be prepared in two ways: with tomato (in rosso) and without (in bianco). Both are great but I tend
to order the bianco variation. The rest
of the ingredients are so simple, but I think it’s the simplicity that makes it
taste so great. And the fact the ingredients are so simple means that it is
also a great dish to prepare at home. When I recreate this dish at home I make
my prawn and mussel version. You can use fresh mussels and steam them yourself
but I use ready prepared ones from M&S. Bit of a cheat I know, but this
way it means the whole dish takes only 15 minutes to make.
(serves 2 | total prep and cooking time approximately 15
minutes)
Ingredients
130g dry
spaghetti
Olive oil
140g raw
prawns
1 pack of
Marks and Spencer’s cooked mussels in shallots and garlic or in white wine and
parsley
4 cloves of
garlic – finely chopped
Finely
chopped chilli – how much depends on your preference
100ml white
wine
1 tablespoon
chopped fresh parsley
Method
·
Cook the spaghetti according to the instructions
on the packet
·
Rinse the mussels under cold water and remove
them from the shells (you can keep them in the shells if you prefer, it looks
better that way but slows you down when you’re eating!)
·
Heat some olive oil in a large frying pan and
pan fry the prawns till they turn pink. Remove the cooked prawns with a slotted spoon and keep aside
·
Heat a little more oil in the same frying pan
and add the garlic and chilli, cook for a couple of minutes
·
Add the prawns and the mussels
·
Add the white wine and bring to the boil. Cook
at this temperature for about 5 minutes to make sure the alcohol evaporates
·
Add the chopped parsley
·
Toss in the cooked spaghetti
·
Serve with cracked black pepper on top and
accompanied by garlic bread and salad
Love this dish, very practical recipe. Thank you accidental cook!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to trying this - Sounds quick but delicious - perfect for a busy lifestyle :) Kaj
ReplyDelete