I love a good simple meal especially when I’m cooking for myself. To say that this pasta dish is delicious is an understatement because it is extremely extremely tasty. Donna Hay, one of my favourite Australian TV chef/personality, describes this dish as a tasty combination of two of her (and moi too!) favourite ingredients – garlic prawns and pasta. Yummy Yum Yum!
So, after watching Donna’s video, adding oil in the pasta water doesn’t really help to unstick the pasta. Instead, it’s just making it difficult to clean the pot later :) According to Donna, the trick to getting the pasta to not stick is to have a generous amount of water that’s always boiling because it’s the bubbles that’s keeping the pasta strands separate.
While the dish is easy, timing is everything. We don’t want to make the pasta cooked too early or the garlic prawns over cooked. So, time the cooking properly. 
Speedy lunch with Garlic Prawn Pasta
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 1 1x
Description
Try this quick and easy recipe for lunch and you will want more and more.
Ingredients
- 100 g angel hair pasta
- 25 g unsalted butter
- 1/2 tbsp (8 ml) olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, sliced
- 1 chilli flakes
- 1/2 tbsp shredded lemon zest
- 6 fresh prawns, peeled, cleaned and halved lengthways
- 1/2 tbsp (8 ml) lemon juice
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) parsley leaves, roughly torn
- sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Cook pasta in a large saucepan of boiling salted water until al dante. Continue to watch the pasta while cooking the rest.
- While the pasta is cooking, place a frying pan over medium high heat. Add butter and olive oil. Cook until butter has melted.
- Add garlic, chilli flakes and lemon zest and fry until fragrant. Then add the prawns and cook until they are tender. Time to throw in the pasta, together with lemon juice, parsley and season with salt and pepper.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Main Courses
- Cuisine: International
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 430
Frequently Asked Questions
Why use both butter and olive oil in the same pan for the prawns?
The butter gives richness and helps the garlic and lemon zest go fragrant quickly, while the olive oil raises the smoke point so the butter doesn’t burn. Together they make a quick, glossy pan sauce that coats the 100g of angel hair pasta beautifully.
Should I add oil to the pasta water to stop sticking?
No — adding oil to the pasta water actually makes the pot harder to clean and doesn’t prevent sticking. The trick is a large saucepan with a generous amount of water kept at a rolling boil; the constant movement of the bubbles is what keeps the strands separate.
Why does timing matter so much with this dish?
The prawns cook in just a few minutes and go rubbery fast. Start the pasta water first, then begin the prawns only in the final minutes of the pasta cooking time so everything finishes together. With 100g angel hair and a total cook time of 10 minutes, there’s no margin for the prawns to sit and overcook while you drain the pasta.
