Creamy, rich and luxurious! This Saffron and Prawn linguine is quick and easy, making it perfect for busy nights but also special enough for entertaining.
So maybe this isn’t your your average weekday meal. The addition of prawns and saffron make this a bit of an extravagance. But occasionally it is nice to have a bit of a splurge, especially if you get some amazing prawns on half price!!!! The boys and I enjoyed this last weekend but as Stew is still renouncing carbs!!!! I only cooked half the amount below (although I might have used the same quantity of prawns 😉 )
The only down side to this (if you can call it that!) is you can’t really reheat it. The sauce goes claggy and prawns get overcooked. But hey that just means you are justified at having seconds 😉 Or I suppose if you are cooking for people with smaller appetites you could just half the recipe, like I did. I would say the quantities below will feed 4 adults.
It is such a simple dish to make, everything comes together in the time it takes pasta to cook. Which is perfect when you want a big plate of creamy pasta in a hurry. And just look at the beautiful colour of this dish, yellow pasta, spiked with red from the saffron and garnished with bright green chives. Dill also works wonderfully here! I quite often use dried chives, they have a great flavour and within a minute or so they have rehydrated to a bright green. No crumbly dried herbs in sight 🙂
The key to the rich sauce is the egg yolks. You beat them into the sauce once it has come off the heat, they thicken everything and make it super rich and delicious. Be sure to take the pan off the heat though, otherwise you end up with a saffron and scrambled egg sauce. Yick!!!!
Hope you love this.
x
p.s the other week I was watching the food channel and saw a chef reach for his jar of saffron, I kid you not it was a jar about the size of a mustard jar, filled with saffron!!! Wow! That is some stash! I just buy the little boxes from the supermarket, it is expensive but a little goes a long way. Just make sure you buy the threads and not the powder. The powder doesn’t give the same wonderful flavour and I have read that supplies often add turmeric and food colourings to the powder so they can reduce the amount of saffron. How unscrupulous!!
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- 500 g /1.1lb dried linguine
- large pinch saffron threads
- 4 tbsp boiling water
- 350 ml /12 fl oz double cream
- 55 g /2oz grated parmesan
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1 tsp chopped chives
- 300 g /10.5oz peeled cooked prawns
- 2 egg yolks
- salt and pepper
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Put a large pan of water onto boil ready for the pasta.
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Whilst it comes to the boil place the saffron into a small saucepan and pour over the 4 tbsp of boiling water. Leave to stand for 3-4 minutes.
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Salt the pasta water well, add the linguine and cook the pasta for a minute less than the instructions suggest.
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Add the cream, parmesan and the lemon zest to the saffron and stir over a medium heat until simmering. Simmer for 2-3 minutes.
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Add the chives, prawns and cook for a further minute until heated through. Check the seasoning.
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Remove from the heat and stir through the egg yolks. (see notes)
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Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water.
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Pour the sauce over the pasta and thin with the cooking water as needed.
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Serve with a garnish of chopped chives.
Make sure you have removed the pan from the heat, before you add the egg. The egg helps to thicken the sauce, but if it is still on the heat you can easily get scrambled eggs!!!
It sounds delicious and I don’t think I’d ever have any trouble finishing it all!
Yum this looks so delish Claire. Yum to saffron and prawns.! So pretty.
Oh thank you Sherry.
It is a simple dish but it looks so beautiful 🙂
This looks so gorgeous and light!!! Yum!
Thank you Lucy 🙂
Hi Claire! Saffron is very expensive and it needs to be stored properly, but it is so worth it! I made a paella a few days ago and added a heavy pinch of saffron threads…OMG so good! I could definitely eat a huge plate of this! You are such an honest, down to earth damn good cook! 🙂
It is so expensive isn’t it!!!! I once bought a little box of it and I don’t know if I missed it at the bottom of a shopping bag (although I checked them all) or if it fell out. But I couldn’t find it when I got home. I almost cried at the waste of $10!
And thank you, I love having you hang out at Sprinkles and Sprouts Dorothy, I know you love food as much as I do 🙂 x
I seriously don’t use saffron in my cooking enough. Maybe I need to leave it out on the kitchen counter so I don’t keep forgetting about it! Love this linguine, Claire!
I love the perfume of saffron, I would probably use it more if it wasn’t quite so expensive!
Thank you
I am all for a bit of splurging any day of the week, girl! Especially if the splurge in on prawns and saffron! This linguine looks delicious! Light yet substantial and definitely 100% twirl-tastic! I’ll take two bowls, for sure! Cheers and thanks for sharing the YUM!
Twirl-Tastic…….LOVE IT!!!!!
I can literally smell this cooking right now! What a fantastic idea! Now off to the store to buy some prawns!
Thank you Beth. Enjoy 🙂
Saffron is super expensive but I’ve always wanted to try cooking with it. This looks like a good start!
I know Matt, I am sure I would use it more often if it was a bit more reasonable. When I see it on special offer I always buy a couple of boxes. A bigger outlay but worth it for the bargain.
Saffron sounds like a perfect match for this dish. Going to have to make this soon!
I hope you love it Derek 😀
Yum! This looks so light and fresh. I absolutely love saffron, it is such a treat!
I agree Kim, nice to just treat yourself and have something special for dinner. And I always tell myself I would have spent far more if I had gone out to eat.
I love prawns and saffron always make me feel like the dish is extra special because of the splurge on the spice. Your photos are lovely.
Thank you Ronda, and I agree when you use lovely ingredient it does feel special. And we deserve that 🙂
Love the idea of saffron with prawns! Looks very appetizing. I got dinner idea for my hubby. I will just skip shrimp for myself.
I hope hubby enjoys it. If you want to make this vegetarian I also think this works well with sautéed leeks 🙂
I’m in a hurry wanting this right now! It looks delicious and sounds wonderful. I love using saffron in recipes.
Hehe I get like that sometimes, I spend some time on pinterest and suddenly I want 6 dinners 😉
Such a beautiful treat of a dish. I adore saffron and must use it more!
Thank you Kate. It is such a wonderful perfumed spice isn’t it 🙂
This dish does sound extravagant and luxurious! I’m happy to see it’s easy to make because I’m really looking forward to trying this! Lovely!
Thank you Patricia, I love pasta recipes where the sauce is just as quick as the pasta 🙂
What a great flavour combination! I would have never thought of putting the two together!
Kaitie, they are lovely together. Sweet and perfumed. Hope you love it.
I love using saffron. I like how the its color matches the red from the prawns. looks delicious.
Thank you Peter. I love the way the colour seeps and infuses into everything 🙂