King Prawn and Chorizo Linguine, the popular kid, and another pasta dish added to The Summer Recipe Series!
Everyone seems to love this meaty seafood pasta, and righly so. When done right this is creamy and silky, salty and fragrant and just downright delicious. Often made with cream or tinned tomatoes, ours was created with inspiration from the Roman style pastas – Carbonara, Cacio E Pepe etc… There is absolutely no cream involved and this makes our recipe so light and delicate, but packed full of insane flavour.
What's in King Prawn and Chorizo Linguine?
There’s not many ingredients in this dish. Unlike others than either use cream or a heavy tomato based sauce we use none of that. This is what makes our so light and flavoursome.
To make Fork and Twist’s King Prawn and Chorizo Linguine you will need:
- Linguine
- Cooking Chorizo (A mixture of cured chorizo and raw pork)
- Parmegiano Reggiano
- Garlic
- Parsley
- Paprika
- Saffron (optional)
Notice there is no liquid looking ingredient here. The sauce will be made using the fat that comes out of the chorizo, the cooking water of the pasta and the Parmigiano. Together this will emulsify into a delicate, yet punchy sauce that beats any cream.
The cooking chorizo differs from the ring as it is made with raw pork and it has to be cooked. It can be found in most supermarkets in the UK. If you can’t find it simply use the usual cured chorizo ring. See image below.
How to Cook King Prawn and Chorizo Linguine
So how does one cook King Prawn and Chorizo Linguine perfectly every time?
Outlined below are a set of tips to get you on your way to coking the best King Prawn and Chorizo Linguine ever.
- Prepare all the ingredients first. Have them to hand whilst you’re cooking, it will enable you to focus on the cooking aspect and essentially not mess it up.
- Get the pasta going before anything else.
- Cook the prawns first until just done. Do not overcook them. As soon as they turn pink on one side, flip them over. As soon as they’re pink on that side they’re done. It shouldn’t take much more than 2 minutes for normal peeled king prawns.
- Cook the chorizo in the same pan until the fat as been released and they’re crispy.
- Use the water from the pasta to mix with the chorizo fat to create an emulsion (combination).
- Finish the pasta cooking in this emulsion until silky smooth.
- Add cheese and a little more pasta water to create a thick and glossy sauce.
For more info, refer to our tutorial video below.
King Prawn and Chorizo Linguine Recipe Tutorial
King Prawn and Chorizo Linguine Recipe Steps
King Prawn and Chorizo Linguine
Equipment
- Large Saucepan
- Large non-stick frying pan
- Wooden Spoon
- Cheese Grater
- Tongs
- Slotted Spoon (or spider strainer)
- Wooden Spoon
- Ladle
Ingredients
- 150 g Linguine can substiute for any pasta you like
- 12 Raw King Prawns, without shell.
- 100 g Raw cooking chorizo, diced can also use a chorizo ring
- 30 g Fresh, finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano
- 2 small Garlic Cloves, finely chopped
- 1 handful Freshly chopped Parsley
- Salt 10g per 1 liter of water used for pasta
Instructions
Preparation
- Prepare all the ingredients first:Grate Cheese, chop garlic, chop parsley, weigh pasta, dice chorizo.
- Boil the Kettle
Cooking: Pasta
- Bring a pan of salted water to the boilNote - 10g os salt per 1L of water is good. Pasta water should be salty, enough so that you shouldn't need to season the dish at the end of cooking.
- Once boiling add the pasta and cook according to pack instructions but take off about 2 minutes.Note - we want the pasta to be almost ready and then finish off in the frying pan. If the packet says 10 minutes, take the pasta out at around 8 minutes.
Cooking: Sauce
- Get a frying pan on a medium heat. Once hot add a thin layer of oil to the pan.
- Add the prawns and cook for 1 minute on the first side until pink. Flip onto the otherside and cook until just turned pink, roughly 20 seconds. Remove from the pan and set aisde.
- Add the diced cooking chorizo and cook in the same pan. Turn the heat down to medium low to avoid burning the outside. Cook until crisp on the outside but still soft in the middle. Once cooked, remove from the pan using a slotted spoon and set aside with the prawns.Note - There should a lot of reddish orange fat released - we need this for the sauce.
- Remove the pan from the heat for 1 minute to cool the fat slighty. Then, add the garlic and stir well using a wooden spoon. Cook this whilst stirring for about 30 seconds.
- Add 2 big ladles of starchy, salty pasta water, 4/5 saffron strands and a tbsp of Paprika. Bring to a simmer on a medium high heat. Stir often to often and reduce down by 2/3.
- Once the pasta is almost cooked, use tongs to place them directly into the frying pan. Don't worry about adding extra water doing this.
- Coat the pasta in the sauce and add one more ladle of pasta water, bring to a simmer and finish the cooking of the pasta. Stir often.
- Once the pasta and sauce is silky smooth an no longer watery add the chorizo and prawns and stir well to combine and warm through. Then, remove from the heat for 1 minute.
- After 1 minute, add the parmesan and parsely to the pasta. Stir well to combine and melt the cheese. Add a couple tbsp of pasta water to loosen the cheese and create more of a sauce. Keep adding pasta water a tbsp at a time until the desiered sauciness is achieved. We used 3 tbsp.
- Taste and add salt if needed.
Serving
- Use a ladle and tongs to swirl the pasta into a decorative nest. Top with chorizo and 6 prawns. Add a sprinkling of extra parm and parsley. Eat immediately.
Notes
- As always, prepare all the ingredients first. This ensures less stress and everything is ready to hand during cooking.
- The pasta should be almost cooked and then finished off in the frying pan. If the packet says 10 minutes, take the pasta out at around 8 minutes and add direct to the frying pan. This creates silky smooth pasta and sauce.
- When cooking the chorizo there should be a lot of reddish orange fat released - we need this for the sauce. its emulsified with pasta water to create the base for our sauce.
- This recipe requires attention at the stove. Use the wooden spoon and tongs well to emulsify the fats and cheeses into the sauce and pasta. See video for more detail.
- Take the pan off the heat before adding the cheese, this enables the sauce to be super smooth. If the pan is too hot the cheese can go lumpy.
