New blog and old favourites

So welcome! If there's anybody there...

This is my first exercise in writing about what I love/adore/dream about, no not tall ginger gentlemen, but food. Ah food! As well as proving my darling Mother Hen right (again, Roots was amazing) this is hopefully going to be the perfect thing to channel my culinary energies. Basically The Larder will give my family, friends, boyfriend and work colleagues a wee bit of peace from my constant prattling about all things edible. Hopefully you will listen though.

Today feels like the start of summer, although it has the chilly Stirling wind as a companion, so to celebrate Prawn Fettuccini was on the menu. I am disgustingly addicted to tomatoes at the moment, it's a daily essential. At least one meal a day must contain my fix of tomato-y goodness. This recipe is an old reliable and an absolute favorite. The best meals are not the fanciest but the ones that manage to fulfil all your wants on one plate - or one bowl as I always seem to favour bowl food for some reason, must be the comfort factor. The juicy sweet prawns, squashy summery tomatoes and the sharp tang of lemon juice manage to cheer up the dullest Scottish day and the grumpiest Scottish person (not naming any names!) every single time.

Prawn Fettuccini

Serves 2

The fresh chilli is not meant to make it too spicy - it just gives the dish a gentle warmth. Up the amount if you're a chilli fiend (like me) or tone it down if you want something a little softer. Once every 2 months my local market have king prawns on sale so I stuff the freezer but if you don't have them this sauce is well worth making part of your staple repertoire. Quick and easy, minimal ingredients and goes with any type of pasta.

200g of raw king prawns

1 small tub (16 or so) of cherry tomatoes - if you can get a mixture of types and colours even better

2 cloves of garlic

2 handfuls of rocket

1 fresh red chilli

juice of half a lemon

a glug of white wine

1 handful of flatleaf parsley

enough fresh fettuccini for 2

Quarter some of the tomatoes, half some and leave a few small ones whole. Chop up your garlic, chilli and parsley. Run a knife over the back of your prawns, not all the way through, just to devein them. Heat a deep frying pan on the stove with a good glug of olive oil and pop on a pan of salted hot water. When the oil is ready throw the garlic and chilli straight in, stir continuously, don’t let it stick. Keep a close eye on it, burnt garlic is bitter and horrid. At that point add your tomatoes, this will stop the cooking process. Put your fresh pasta on now.

Add your wine and let the whole sauce simmer, it should smell amazing! You should see the tomato skins start to peel off and them to soften considerably. At that point get a potato masher and squish the whole lot down, not too much but just to amalgamate the whole thing. Add your lemon juice, give it a stir and add your prawns. They should take less than a minute to cook through in the sauce.

Drain the pasta and leave in the pan drizzed with some extra virgin olive oil. Once the prawns are pink throughout turn the heat off and add the parsley and seasoning. Sprinkle a layer of rocket over the sauce and then pop the pasta over that (it helps the rocket wilt), don’t stir yet.

Get the plates out, quick 5 second tidy up and pour a few glasses. Take a pair of tongs and stir it all together, add an extra slosh of extra virgin for a bit of fruitiness.