Recipe: Gordon Ramsay’s quick prawn pasta

On the table in ten minutes: an insanely delicious pasta with prawns that’s also Gordon Ramsay approved? It’s possible! Make sure you have everything ready, and let’s get cracking.

What is Gordon up to now?

Or rather, let’s get prawn-ing, because where G uses scampi, giant prawns are the stars of this lightning-fast little meal for us. As always, Gordon does things entirely his own way: he cooks the pasta in a small amount of water instead of a lot, and he even pours olive oil into the pasta water!

Either way, you’ll have this pasta on the table before you could have ordered and had something fresh delivered, trust us. Just prep everything beforehand so you can get straight to chopping and seasoning.

How to make Gordon Ramsay’s quick prawn pasta

• Fill a medium saucepan halfway with water, cover with the lid, and bring to the boil over high heat.
• Place a large, deep frying pan with a generous glug of olive oil over low heat.
• Cut the shallot in half lengthways, then slice the halves lengthways into thin strips. According to Gordon, shallots are easier to digest than ‘regular’ onions, and he prefers their sweeter flavour.
• Turn the heat under the frying pan up slightly and fry the shallot in the olive oil.
• Grab a fine grater (Microplane forever) and grate the garlic clove over the shallot (scrape the garlic from the underside of the grater too).
• Add another small glug of olive oil and turn up the heat.
• Sprinkle some chilli flakes into the pan – start gently; you can always add more for extra heat.
• Toss everything together in the pan.
• Halve the cherry tomatoes and add them.
• Deglaze with the white wine, then pour in the stock.
• Roll up the basil leaves like a cigar and cut them into thin strips.
• Add the basil and capers to the pan.
• Toss and stir everything well once more, then remove the pan from the heat.
• Now place a small frying pan with a glug of olive oil over this heat.
• Add the pasta to the saucepan of water and cook it for slightly less time than indicated on the packet (for capellini, this will be about 3 minutes).
• Meanwhile, season the prawns with salt and pepper and fry them in the small frying pan.
• Turn the prawns over as soon as they start to colour and remove them from the heat.
• Grate half the zest of a lemon over the prawns and leave to rest for 30 seconds.
• Add the prawns to the sauce (the shallot and so on) in the deep frying pan.
• Place this pan back over low heat and add the drained pasta once it is al dente.
• Pour in another small glug of olive oil and mix everything well with your tongs.
• Spoon into a deep plate.
• Grate Parmesan over it, add a little more lemon zest, squeeze over some lemon juice, and serve!

Gordon Ramsay shows you how

Want to watch the great chef in action before you get started? Then watch the video below from the ‘Ramsay in 10’ series, in which Gordon makes his quick pasta.

Also read:

• Gordon Ramsay’s 10 tips for the best steak
• You’ve been cutting bell peppers incorrectly your whole life
• Common mistakes when preparing prawns

Source and image: YouTube/Gordon Ramsay