Catalan-style pasta with prawns and fish

Name: Catalan-style pasta with prawns and fish
Yield: 2
Ingredients: 2 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil; 6 heads Raw prawns, and shells, Australian or Argentinian prawns, heads chopped coarsely (Main); 1 small Onion, chopped; 1 small Carrot, thinly sliced; ½ stick Celery, thinly sliced; 1 Bay leaf; 2 large Garlic cloves, sliced; 1 Tomato, sliced; 50 ml Dry white wine; 500 ml Chicken stock; 1 cup Water; ¼ tsp Sweet smoked paprika, Spanish; 4 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil; 150 g Angel hair pasta, or very thin spaghetti, broken into 2-3cm lengths (I used a thin wholegrain spaghetti) (Main); 1 small Onion, chopped; 1 small Carrot, thinly sliced; ½ stick Celery, thinly sliced; 1 Red capsicum, roasted, cored, deseeded, and sliced 1cm thick; 6 large Raw prawns, shelled, Australian or Argentinian, sliced through the back but not right through so you can remove the digestive tract (Main); 350 g White fish, skinned, boned, firm, and cut into 4cm pieces (monkfish is good for this) (Main); 1 whole Prawn stock, (preparation instructions below, brought to boil; 50 g Snow peas; 2 Lemon wedges, and chopped parsley for serving

for 2 people

Tam West

Ray McVinnie

Chef and food writer

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This takes a while but the flavour from the prawn stock is worth it, not to mention the fact that you don't waste any part of the 6 large (about 300g) raw Australian or Argentinian prawns you need for this dish. The romesco from my barbecued chicken with romesco and vegetable paella recipe is also good with this.

For the stock

2 Tbsp	Extra virgin olive oil
6 heads	Raw prawns, and shells, Australian or Argentinian prawns, heads chopped coarsely (Main)
1 small	Onion, chopped
1 small	Carrot, thinly sliced
½ stick	Celery, thinly sliced
1	Bay leaf
2 large	Garlic cloves, sliced
1	Tomato, sliced
50 ml	Dry white wine
500 ml	Chicken stock
1 cup	Water
¼ tsp	Sweet smoked paprika, Spanish

For the pasta

4 Tbsp	Extra virgin olive oil
150 g	Angel hair pasta, or very thin spaghetti, broken into 2-3cm lengths (I used a thin wholegrain spaghetti) (Main)
1 small	Onion, chopped
1 small	Carrot, thinly sliced
½ stick	Celery, thinly sliced
1	Red capsicum, roasted, cored, deseeded, and sliced 1cm thick
6 large	Raw prawns, shelled, Australian or Argentinian, sliced through the back but not right through so you can remove the digestive tract (Main)
350 g	White fish, skinned, boned, firm, and cut into 4cm pieces (monkfish is good for this) (Main)
1 whole	Prawn stock, (preparation instructions below, brought to boil
50 g	Snow peas
2	Lemon wedges, and chopped parsley for serving

Directions

For the stock: Heat a deep frying pan over moderate heat. Add oil and prawn heads (including any of the brown gooey liquid from the heads) and shells. Fry gently until they have turned orange. Add the onion, carrot, celery, bay leaf, garlic and tomato and fry gently (be careful of the brown gooey liquid from the heads as this burns easily) for 10 minutes.
Add the white wine. Turn up the heat and let it bubble for 30 seconds. Add the stock, water and paprika. Bring to the boil and simmer 20 minutes (don't boil too hard or it will evaporate too much).
Remove from the heat, strain well and reserve the liquid. This is the prawn stock for the following.
For the pasta: Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large frying pan over moderate heat. Add the pasta and stir-fry gently until it is lightly toasted. Remove from the pan and reserve.
To the same pan, add the remaining oil, the onion, carrot, celery and red capsicum to the pan and fry gently without browning for 10 minutes.
Add the prawns, fish, pasta and prawn stock. Bring to the boil and boil gently for 15 minutes or until the liquid has been almost all absorbed.
Push the snowpeas into the mixture and cook a further minute.
Serve from the frying pan with a sprinkle of parsley and lemon wedges on the side for squeezing.