Garlic Butter Prawn Linguine
Plump prawns tossed with linguine in a garlicky butter sauce loosened with starchy pasta water, finished with lemon and parsley. A fast, savory Italian-style pasta for one.
- Total
- 18 min
- Prep 5 · Cook 13
- Serves
- 1
- Difficulty
- Easy
You'll practice: Emulsifying · Sautéing
- Savory
- Quick
- Italian
- Mild
- Stovetop
- Oven
Instructions
-
Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil, add 0.5 tsp salt, then add the 100 g linguine and cook until al dente, about 9 minutes. Before draining, scoop out and reserve 120 ml of the starchy cooking water.
~9 min
Salting the water seasons the pasta from within; starchy water later emulsifies the butter sauce.
-
While step 1 cooks
While the linguine cooks, peel and finely slice the 2 garlic cloves. Pick and roughly chop the parsley leaves, then juice the half lemon into a small bowl.
~4 min
-
Melt the 25 g butter in a frying pan over medium-low heat. Add the sliced garlic and cook gently until fragrant and pale gold, about 1 minute. Stir in 0.25 tsp dried oregano, 0.25 tsp dried basil and 0.25 tsp garlic powder and cook 30 seconds more.
~1 min
Gentle heat coaxes garlic flavor into the butter without burning, which would turn it bitter.
Keep the garlic pale gold, not brown: burnt garlic turns the butter bitter and there is no time to start over.
Sautéing Keep the heat medium-low and stir often so the garlic turns pale gold, not brown. Add prawns in a single layer and turn once to cook evenly.
-
Add the 120 g prawns to the pan, season with 0.25 tsp black pepper, and cook until they turn opaque and firm, about 3 minutes, turning once.
~3 min
Prawns turn opaque and firm when their proteins set; overcooking makes them rubbery.
Sautéing Keep the heat medium-low and stir often so the garlic turns pale gold, not brown. Add prawns in a single layer and turn once to cook evenly.
-
Add the drained linguine and 120 ml reserved starchy cooking water to the pan. Toss over medium heat until the sauce turns glossy and clings to the pasta, about 2 minutes.
~2 min
Starchy water and butter emulsify into a glossy sauce that clings to the pasta instead of pooling.
Add the starchy water a splash at a time and toss hard; the starch and butter emulsify into a sauce that coats each strand instead of pooling.
Emulsifying Toss vigorously over medium heat, adding starchy water gradually, until the sauce turns glossy and coats each strand. If it looks greasy, add a splash more water and keep tossing.
-
Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice and chopped parsley. Taste and adjust with the remaining salt, then serve straight away.
~1 min
Lemon juice and parsley are added off heat to keep their bright flavor and color intact.