Penne with Prawns in Vegetables, Olives and Lemony Feta Sauce

 

 

There was this debate between my husband and I about whether or not to cover the pot when boiling pasta. My husband watched me cooking pasta once, and that was when we discovered our differences in the kitchen. But luckily, we all have google app on our phones and our favourite catch phrase has since been "Let's look it up!" Believe me, it has averted petty squabbles more than once. So anyway I looked it up and found out that the reasoning behind boiling the pasta without putting on the lid, is for the simple reason that, boiling pasta with the lid on tends to always, always cause the pasta to boil over. So someone decided to skip the mess and not put the lid on, and since no one likes to clean up pasta water mess, the good word just kept spreading around. Thus my conclusion is, if you are willing to watch your pasta like a hawk, by all means, cover that darn pot (you hear me hun?). Othewise, what is a few cents more on the utility bill compared to not having to clean up pasta water mess?

Having said that, this pasta dish took me 20 minutes to cook. Sure my vegetables are haphazardly chopped and my olives were more or less and whole, but they were still delicious all the same. And since I cooked the pasta uncovered, there was no pasta water mess to clean up. That alone, saved me 5 minutes :-) 

 

For the pasta (feeds 2 Adults and 2 toddlers)

• 250g Penne or other kid friendly pasta, cooked according to packet instructions and drained, setting aside about 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Place the cooked pasta back into the empty pot. You will see why I do this, in the later part of the recipe.

For the sauce

• 1/2 an onion, chopped finely
• 1 or 2 cloves of garlic,mashed with the back of a knife and minced
• 1 zucchini/courgette, sliced
• 4-5 tomatoes, quartered,
• A handful of olives, left whole or halved
• A handful of raw prawns, deveined and shelled (I used frozen ones that are already shelled and too small to be deveined hehe clever me!)
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 tablespoons of creme fraiche or 4 tablespoons of single cream or you can skip this if you feeling guilty (but please, if you are feeding kids, they will simply burn the calories off!)
• 100g (more or less) of feta cheese
• Shakes of salt and black pepper 
• A squeeze of lemon, depending on how you strong you want the lemony taste to be
• Grated parmesan for serving

Feel free to skip the prawns and add more vegetables if you want. I've used broccoli and carrots before, as well as leeks and asparagus. Even frozen peas and frozen french beans. Feel free to freestyle baby!

Ready? Set. Go!

Add the olive oil to the pan and when hot, add the chopped onion and the minced garlic with a pinch of salt to prevent them from burning, and stir until the irresistable garlic aroma wafts over. Then add your zucchini, tomatoes and olives and let them wilt together in the pan, while soaking up the garlicky oil. When the zucchini (or the hardiest vegetable that you are using) is all nice and soft to your liking, stir in the creme fraiche or cream, making sure that it is all well-blended to form a creamy sauce. At this stage, it should still be quite dry, Break up the tomato pieces in the pan to lend tomato juiciness and colour to the sauce.  If you have raw prawns, this is when you cook them. Then add about half a cup of the pasta water to bind the sauce together. When it gets all nice and bubbly, turn the pan off, add the crumbled feta cheese, a squeeze or more of lemon and adjust for seasoning.

I like to do it the Italian way where they add the whole pan of sauce into a pot of drained pasta and stir, and let it sit for a while to soak up all the flavours before serving. Then ladle the pasta on plates with a generous grating of fresh parmesan and fresh cracked pepper and dried chilli flakes if you dare and a few sprigs of basil, if you happen to have them. Then get ready for the creamy, lemony pasta coating your tastebuds and tell me if you do not want seconds!

Mission accomplished.