Farfalle con gamberetti e piselli

Fancy title, eh? In the spirit of Lent I decided to post a non-meat dish this week. We've eaten this on Fridays a couple times already this year, and really enjoy it. My family loves pasta, and they generally like most seafood. So, when I ran across this recipe in my "The Italian Cooking Encyclopedia" I thought it would be worth a try. Plus, it's fairly simple to make.

It's not often that I make and serve something that every member of the family enjoys. I give "Farfalle con gamberetti e piselli" a.k.a. Pasta Bows with Prawns and Peas an A. (By the way, forgive the blurry picture - there was none to be found online so this is a picture of the picture in the book. Sorry, I'll try to do better next week.)

Ingredients

3 Tbs olive oil

2 Tbs butter

2 spring onions, chopped

12 oz. fresh or frozen peeled prawns

1 1/4 cups frozen peas, thawed

14 oz. farfalle pasta

1 cup dry white wine

a few strands fresh saffron or 1/8 tsp powdered saffron

salt & pepper

2 tbsp chopped fresh fennel or dill, to serve

(serves approx. 4)

Directions

1. Bring a large pan of water to boil. Heat the oil and butter in a large frying pan and sautee the spring onions lightly. Add the prawns and peas, and cook for 2-3 minutes.

2. Add salt and the pasta to the boiling water. Stir the wine and saffron into the prawn mixture. Raise the heat and cook until the wine is reduced by about half. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover the pan and reduce the heat to low.

3. Drain the pasta when it is al dente. Add it to the pan with the sauce. Stir over high heat for 2-3 minutes, coating pasta with the sauce. Sprinkle with fresh herbs and serve at once.

*Blogger's Note: It calls for farfalle, and that is the best choice, but I've made it with other pasta I had in the pantry and it turned out just as good. Also, I've used random herbs such as parsely, oregano, and rosemary and it's been very good, too. This is a pretty easy recipe and fairly adjustable to different herbs you have in the cabinet. I say play with it a bit, but if you like shrimp - it's a must try!