Tagliatelle with Green Asparagus, Prawns & Sun Dried Tomatoes

Serves 2 People

Spaghetti With Prawns And Asparagus

This is a little more complicated to prepare, because it has more ingredients, but well worth it. It is our favourite pasta dish at the moment.

I prefer to cook it with mini-asparagus (which usually comes from Peru or Chile), because it is available all year round, you don't need to trim it, and it all cooks at the same speed. If you use full-sized asparagus, you will probably want to cook it for a minute or two longer.

  1. Slice a large onion, and fry it for 3 minutes in a large pan.
  2. Chop the asparagus into pieces of about 1 inch long. Add the pieces to the onions, and fry for a further 2 minutes.
  3. Reduce the heat a little, and add a glass of white wine or prosecco (sparkling white wine - a kind of fake champagne) to the pan, and tightly cover, steaming for about 4 minutes. This stage vastly reduces the main side-effect of eating asparagus of making your pee smell of asparagus.
  4. Remove the lid, and add a cup of single cream. Optionally, you can add a generous pinch of saffron. Stir well.
  5. Add a handful of sun-dried tomatoes, cut into thin strips, and stir. I usually put the sun-dried tomatoes to soak in the wine/prosecco just before I start cooking, to ensure that they are soft.
  6. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring regularly.
  7. Add a cup of prawns, and stir until the prawns are cooked (it doesn't take long). You can substitute scallops (cut into halves or quarters) for the prawns, if you wish.
  8. Add more cream, if needed.
  9. Serve with Tagliatelle (or the pasta of your choice), and parmesan for garnish.