🛒 Ingredients
- 350g linguine or trofie
- 300g peeled prawns
- For the pesto: 60g fresh basil, 40g pine nuts, 60g Parmesan + Pecorino, 1 clove of garlic, 100ml olive oil, salt
👨🍳 Step-by-step instructions
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Blend the basil with the pine nuts, garlic, cheese, and olive oil in a blender until you get a homogeneous pesto.
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Cook the pasta al dente and reserve a cup of the cooking water.
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Sauté the prawns in butter with garlic for 2 minutes on each side until golden brown.
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Mix the drained pasta with the pesto, adding cooking water to give it creaminess.
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Add the prawns and serve immediately with grated Parmesan.
💡 Chef's tip
Pesto must never be cooked — it loses its green colour and fragrance instantly. Always mix it with hot pasta away from the heat, adding a spoonful of pasta water to bind it.
📝 Our take
Fresh homemade pesto with Genoese basil, pine nuts, and Parmesan bears no resemblance to the jarred version. The key to this dish is temperature: pesto must never be heated — it's mixed off the heat with hot pasta and a splash of cooking water to emulsify. The sautéed prawns add the textural contrast that turns it into a main course.
🍷 Wine & food pairing
Vermentino from Sardinia or a Gavi di Gavi from Piedmont. Both have the fresh acidity that harmonises with basil and cuts through the oil in the pesto.
Suggested wine: Vermentino di Gallura or Gavi di Gavi
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