Pasta with prawns and lemon-vodka-sauce

Hi guys!

Sorry for not posting on meat free monday, but I couldn't find time to try a new vegetarian recipe and prepared mushroom risotto for me instead. Yesterday, though, I did get back to a recipe that has become something like a runner-up to his all-time-favourite spaghetti carbonara for my boyfriend and he asked me to make it for dinner. The recipe comes from Donna Hay's "simple dinners" and it is actually simple and fast as it is prepared in the time it takes to cook your pasta. 

So here's the recipe:

400g (14 oz) spaghetti (or any type of pasta you like)
20g (1 tablespoon) unsalted butter
4 cloves of garlic
20 raw, peeled prawns
250ml (1 cup; 8 fl.oz.) cream
2 tablespoons vodka
2 tablespoons lemon juice
20g (0.7 oz) parsley
salt and black pepper for seasoning

1) Heat a large pot of water over high heat until the water is boiling. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions. 

2) Cut the garlic in thin slices and chop the parsley. Heat the butter in a large pan over high heat. Add the garlic and prawns and cook for about 2 minutes, until the prawns are cooked, which is when they've changed their colour from grey to orange-red. Take the prawns out of the pan.

3) Add the cream, vodka and lemon juice to the pan. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium and let the sauce cook for 5 minutes.

4) Drain the pasta and add it to the pan along with the prawns and the parsley. Mix well and season to taste with a little salt and pepper.

Serves: 3-4
Active preparation time: about 10 minutes
Total preparation time: 20 minutes
© Copyright: Donna Hay, "simple dinners", p. 40.

Here's how it looks:

I have a soft spot for the creamy sauce that is so smooth and almost velvety while surprising you with the taste of vodka (no more alcohol since you have cooked the sauce) and the freshness of lemon. I personally added a fair bit of pepper and very little salt for seasoning. And as you've prepared the sauce in the same pan you've cooked your prawns it, a little bit of their taste has found its way into the sauce. I think this is a perfect example for an easy, speedy dinner that lacks nothing, not flavour, not looks, not surprises and it surely won't leave you with a lack of compliments.

Have fun trying!