Prawn linguine with cherry tomatoes and garlic

I've never really liked the full, thick, tomato bases of Italian pasta sauces. I find them more often than not too rich for me. But I do still love the tomato flavor so as I've continued my cooking journey, ive used sautéed cherry tomatoes in stead of making tomato sauces. I find them sweeter, not overpowering and it allows other ingredients to sing too.

This is a real comfort meal for me, where I'll happily tuck myself on the sofa and read a book or watch a documentary while eating what feels like a hug in a bowl to me.

If you're a vegetarian, no need to add the anchovies or prawns either, it's perfectly delicious as a vegetarian dish, although I'd probably add some more herbs to lift it, like basil.

Prep time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 20 mins

Serves: 2

Ingredients

200g dry linguine

1 punnet cherry tomatoes, cut in half

2 cloves of garlic, sliced

1/4 cup parsley, chopped, stems reserved

1 anchovy

2 tbsp olive oil

6 raw prawns, seasoned with salt and pepper

Olive oil spray

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Slice the garlic, chop the parsley, and cut the cherry tomatoes and put to one side.

2. Heat a fry pan on medium, drizzle in the olive oil, then add the anchovy, garlic and parsley stems. Let it cook together until it becomes fragrant, careful that the garlic doesn't burn or brown.

3. At the same time, heat a saucepan of water and put enough salt in it that it's salty to taste. Better to over salt the water than to under salt it. When the water comes to the boil, add in your pasta.

4. Meanwhile, once the garlic and anchovy has cooked away for a couple of minutes, remove the parsley stem, add in the cherry tomatoes and season, cooking it down until the juices and seeds from the tomatoes come out and create more of a sauce.

5. Once the tomatoes are cooked, add in the capers.

6. When the pasta is 75% cooked, add a ladleful of pasta water into the cherry tomato mix, then drain the pasta and add this in too, letting the remaining cook time for the pasta to finish with the sauce.

7. During this time, take your seasoned prawns, spray another pan with olive oil, and grill your prawns until cooked.

8. Once the pasta has absorbed most of the sauce, throw in your parsley and stir for 30 seconds before serving.

9. Serve the pasta with the prawns on top.

Notes

• Clearly I love garlic. You can definitely only use one clove if you prefer, and if you dont like them sliced or edible, feel free to crush them instead.

• I prefer Italian flat leaf parsley but continental is fine too. Basil would also be great.

• If you want to add a kick to it, add some chili flakes at the end, and if you want to brighten it up, you can squeeze half a lemon into the sauce at the same time as you put in the parsley.

• Anchovies are totally optional. I just like the more rounded taste it gives to the sauce.