Tag: sorrel

Prawn Pasta with Sorrel and Chive Butter

Easy prawn pasta recipe

Prawn Pasta with Sorrel and Chive Butter

This Prawn Pasta with Sorrel and Chive Butter is an easy and adaptable supper recipe. When fresh sorrel is in season, I make it with my Sorrel and Chive Herb Butter but at other times of the year I either use other herb butters or just regular salted butter. Whatever type of butter you choose, it is a very quick, crowd-pleasing recipe which is good for a week-night supper but is also not out of place if you are entertaining.

Things you need to know about this Prawn Pasta recipe

  • It is really important to allow time for the fennel and onion to cook slowly and become soft and caramelised (step 1) as this makes a big difference to the taste of the finished dish.
  • I think my Sorrel and Chive Herb Butter works well with the flavours of the fennel and the prawns. It has a lemony taste which enhances both ingredients. However, if you can use other herb flavoured butter or just plain butter if you prefer.
  • You can use any kind of pasta for this dish. I suggest using long pasta, such as spaghetti, linguine or tagliatelle as I think this works best wish the buttery sauce. However, if you prefer shorter pasta such as penne, that also works well.

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Other simple pasta suppers

This recipe for Prawn Pasta is a great week-night supper option. It is easy, tasty and uncomplicated and can be made in ten minutes. Here are some of my other simple pasta supper recipes.

  • Basic Tomato Sauce – this is an easy recipe for a rich sauce using store-cupboard ingredients. Delicious stirred into pasta as it is and open to lots of variations and additions!
  • Creamy Mushroom Pasta – this is simple vegetarian sauce combines mushrooms and chestnuts and lots of garlic. It can be used with any kind of pasta but I prefer it with short pasta such as gigli or penne.
  • Spaghetti with Smoked Salmon – this simple recipe can be made in 15 minutes. Smoked salmon trimmings are combined with fennel and chives and a squeeze of lemon.
  • Macaroni Cheese – this is a brilliant make-ahead vegetarian recipe which has a secret layer of caramelised onions and a bit of cayenne to balance its rich cheesiness. Topped with a layer of crisp breadcrumbs it is perfect served with a simple green salad.
Other seafood recipes

I love all kinds of seafood. It always seems like a bit of a treat and it is generally very quick to cook. In addition to my seafood pasta recipes, I also have a few others that I make regularly.

I make a couple of savoury tarts that have a seafood filling. My Crab and Prawn Tart includes Asian-inspired flavours such as lime and coriander. My easy-peasy Smoked Salmon Tart with Prawns is a great combination of tasty smoked salmon and juicy prawns. Another really easy recipe that uses smoked salmon is my Smoked Salmon Pate which tastes delicious and is made in minutes.

I also have a great simple supper recipe, Moroccan-inspired Seafood Stew, which is really quick and easy to make. It is one of my regular week-night recipes but it is special enough to bring out at a dinner party or celebration meal.

Easy prawn pasta recipe

Recipe for Prawn Pasta with Sorrel and Chive Herb Butter

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Sorrel and Chive Butter

Prawn Pasta with Sorrel and Chive Herb Butter

  • Author: Tastebotanical
  • Prep Time: 5
  • Cook Time: 20
  • Total Time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: for 4 people 1x
  • Category: Pasta
  • Cuisine: English
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Description

Prawn Pasta with Sorrel and Chive Herb Butter is an easy and tasty supper dish.

Ingredients

Scale
  • Half bulb of fennel
  • 1 onion
  • 25 g  (1 oz) butter
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 clove garlic (optional – there is garlic in the Sorrel and Chive Herb Butter)
  • 165 g (6 oz) peeled raw prawns 
  • 1 portion of Sorrel and Chive Herb Butter
  • 350 g (12 oz) dried long pasta (eg spaghetti, linguine or tagliatelle)

Instructions

  1. Melt the 25 g butter in your frying pan over a low heat.  Finely chop the fennel and onion and add to the pan.  Season with salt and pepper and cook slowly for around 15 minutes until soft and sweet.  Either chop the garlic clove finely or squeeze through a garlic press and add to the mixture and cook for a further couple of minutes.  
  2. Add the raw prawns, and the tiger prawns if you are using them,  to the pan  and fry for around five minutes until pink and cooked.
  3. Meanwhile, boil water in a big saucepan, add salt to taste, and cook your pasta as specified on the packet.  This would usually be for around 10 minutes.
  4. When the pasta is cooked, drain it and add it to the frying pan with the fennel, onion and prawns.  (It is always best to add the pasta to the sauce rather than the other way around as this makes sure that the balance of pasta to sauce is as you like it.).
  5. Add your Sorrel and Chive Herb Butter to the frying pan, let it melt into the pasta and prawn mixture and serve.

 

Keywords: prawn, sorrel, pasta

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Sorrel and Chive Herb Butter

Sorrel, Chives and Garlic

Sorrel and Chive Herb Butter – capture the flavour of zesty spring herbs

Sorrel and Chive Herb Butter is a fantastic way to capture the fresh taste of spring herbs.  Sorrel is a leafy plant, with leaves that look a bit like spinach leaves, and has a distinctive lemony taste.  It provides a burst of fresh sharp flavour which is so welcome in early spring. It can be hard to find in supermarkets but it is very easy to grow if you have a garden or outside space for a pot.   Sorrel was one of the first things that I planted when I moved into my current house – it sits in an unprepossessing spot near the garden fence, needs no attention whatsoever and each year produces lots of leaves from early spring onwards.

Clearly, you can use any herbs that you like to make a Herb Butter.   Others that lend themselves particularly well to this kind of treatment are parsley, tarragon (especially good with chicken) and sage (good with pasta).   You can play with different flavour combinations to suit your taste.  However, I think it is best not to include too many herbs – you need to allow individual flavours to be sing out rather than get lost in a crowd.  Also, it is best to stick to soft herbs (rather than woody herbs).   Other flavourings that go well in a herb butter include garlic (of course!), chilli, citrus (grated zest of lemon, orange or lime) and spices (in particular nutmeg).

Mash the herbs with the butter

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Sorrel and Chive Herb Butter

  • Author: Tastebotanical
  • Prep Time: 15
  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 100 g 1x
  • Category: Butter
  • Cuisine: English
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Description

A tasty Sorrel and Chive Herb Butter which can be used to enhance the flavour of pasta and cooked fish and meat.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 3 to 4 sorrel leaves
  • Around 10 chive stems
  • 100 g salted butter (ideally, room temperature)
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • Black pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Finely chop the sorrel and chives.   Either chop the garlic clove finely or squeeze through a garlic press
  2. Mash up the butter and incorporate the chopped herbs, garlic and black pepper.   This is much easier to do if you have left the butter out of the fridge for half an hour or so.
  3. Shape the herby butter as you wish.  I generally roll it into a sausage shape.  Then, when you want to use the butter, you can easily cut it into discs.  Sometimes, I get fancy and use cookie cutters to shape it into hearts or other shapes.
  4. Put the Sorrel and Chive Herb Butter into the fridge, wrapped in cling-film, until you wish to use it.   It will keep in the fridge for around two weeks and can also be frozen if you wish to keep it for longer as it will last for around three months in the freezer.

Notes

There are so many uses for Sorrel and Chive Herb Butter – it adds zest and flavour to a great many dishes – but some of my favourites are as follows:

  • Add on top of grilled meat or fish just prior to serving.  It will melt and release all its butter flavour.  I think Sorrel and Chive Herb Butter is particularly good with grilled chicken and with grilled salmon or lemon sole.
  • Stir into cooked pasta to make a quick and tasty supper – see my recipe for Prawn Pasta with Sorrel and Chive Herb Butter.  Or you could add some steamed vegetables – courgettes or peas are a good choice – or other sea-food such as scallops.
  • Spread on some crusty bread and just eat it as it is or add some tangy cheese.

Keywords: sorrel butter, chive butter

Sorrel and Chive Herb Butter hearts

Other things you can do with Sorrel

In addition to Herb Butter, there are lots of other quick and easy ways in which you can use sorrel.  Some of my favourites are as follows.

  • Use young leaves in a mixed green salad, along with lettuce, spinach or other greens.
  • Heat some double cream and add chopped up sorrel leaves to make an instant sauce for meat or fish.
  • Saute chopped up sorrel leaves in butter for a few minutes and then use as the filling for an omelette.   Or you can add the leaves to the egg mixture when making an omelette and fill it with something rich and creamy such as grated cheddar cheese.
  • Add chopped up sorrel leaves to soup – it goes very well with home-made leek and potato soup or chicken soup – to give instant zest.