Blanche
Vaughan’s perfect tagliatelle with tomatoes, prawns, summer salad
Serves 4
1 packet of tagliatelle ( I used squid ink because I love the way it
looked with the other colours, but of course plain is delicious,
too)
Olive oil
500g of sustainable prawns
1 small shallot, diced
1 red chilli, seeds removed and diced
500g ripe tomatoes
1 tbsp fresh fennel (if you can’t find flowers, use finely sliced
bulb and fronds)
1 tbsp basil, chopped
Good salt and pepper
Good olive oil to finish
Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan and quickly fry the prawns so
that they start to turn pink. Sprinkle with a little salt and remove
from the heat into a bowl.
Using the same pan, heat some more oil and gently fry the shallot
and chilli until it is soft.
Peel the tomatoes by pouring over boiling water and leaving them for
about 30seconds before refreshing under cold water. The skins should
then slip off. Break them open and pull out the core and seeds and chop
roughly.
Add the tomatoes to the cooked shallot and season well. Then add the
basil and fennel and prawns and cook together briefly.
Cook the pasta in plenty of boiling, salted water and when it is al
dente, drain and add to the sauce. Stir together, season well and douse
with some good olive oil.
Mixed leaf salad with
shaved white radish
This barely needs a recipe, just the suggestion that what makes it
taste good, is a good combination of salad textures and flavours and to
slice the radish really thin so that it is crisp but not a mouthful in
the salad.
1 handful of rocket
1 handful of mustard leaves
1 handful of mache
1 head of fennel flowers
1 white radish, finely sliced
A good squeeze of lemon
Very good olive oil and salt and pepper
Put the leaves into a bowl and slice over the radish. When you are
ready to serve, add the lemon and oil and season well.