Fettuccine with Prawns and Roasted Tomato Sauce

Found the biggest prawns we have seen in a long time at the local fishmongers, Ocean Wares in Buderim, so collaborated with the Support Team for dinner, I shopped, Support Team worked together to produced a beautiful meal and the Darling entertained the Grandies while the cooking was done. Great system. The recipe is based on one of Stephanie Alexanders.

The first step is the oven roasted tomato sauce










The prawns hit the pan, the sauce is quickly added and simmered for a few mins, well drained fettucini is then tossed through and Viola...
The finished dish



With some beautiful crusty bread to soak up the juices

and a bowl of Parmigiano-Reggiano, very finely grated on a Microplane zester, the cheese was so light and airy, like picking up a cloud. I'm sure it improved the flavour of an already great cheese.

Roasted Tomato Sauce
8 ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 onion, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 bay leaf
1 red chilli, toped and tailed and split open
1/3 cup olive oil
salt

Place tomatoes, onion, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, chilli and oil into a med sized baking dish, so that ingredients are about 4cm deep. Roast in 180deg. C oven for approx. 1 hour, until onions is soft and tomatoes are browning a little on edges but there are still plenty of juices, remove bay leaf and chilli. Add salt if needed. Return sauce to oven but turn heat off.

Prawns
20 large prawns (approx. 2kg), heads removed, shelled and deveined
1 Tablespoon olive oil
grated zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1/2 lemon
400g fresh fettuccine
2 Tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped plus extra for decoration.

Cook fresh pasta according to directions, drain

Quickly saute prawn meat in oil in a frying pan, Scatter over parsley, zest and lemon juice. Add tomato sauce and simmer over a brisk heat for a few mins, add fettuccine, toss well and transfer to serving bowl, scatter chopped parsley over and serve.