Zucchini and Spinach Cream Pesto Orecchiette with Butter Prawns

On a random night a few years ago, my boyfriend and I went to Spruce @ Fire Station (which is closing at that location tomorrow! 😦 ). We ordered their most famous dish, the Orecchiette pasta in zucchini, spinach & garlic cream sauce with sea prawns. My boyfriend loved it, and ever since, I’d been eye-ing to re-create the dish. He even bought me a bottle of pre-made pesto sauce thinking it was the same thing. Not sure why, as the restaurant menu didn’t ever say it was ‘pesto’, and he was sorely disappointed and didn’t enjoy the astringent pine nut and parmesan flavours at all 😛

I made a Christmas dinner to try out an experimental recipe based on the flavour profiles I recalled. It probably was stronger in basil (and hence sweeter) than the restaurant version, but I loved it and thought it was pretty good! The important thing is to not overcook the spinach and basil leaves, as that’s where much of the vibrant beautiful chlorophyll hue comes from.

I’ve made a few modifications to improve, and hope you enjoy the recipe as much as I did! It’s not too hard to make, but looks fancy-schmancy. The orecchiette, which literally mean ‘little ears’ in Italian, are a delight to eat: springy and soaks up all the sauce so decadently, and are apparently quite good for vegetable-based sauces. You can make your own orecchiette, but I bought mine from online.

ZUCHINI & SPINACH CREAM PESTO ORECHIETTE WITH BUTTER PRAWNS

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 large zucchini (~300g) (grated/diced)

1/4 cup fresh basil leaves (chopped), plus extra few leaves for frying prawn

1 cup packed spinach leaves (fresh) or ~200g spinach if frozen

6 cloves garlic (minced)

1 cup cooking cream

1 tbsp parmesan cheese

1 tsp salt

1 tsp chicken stock powder

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp oregano

6 fresh prawns (peeled, with tails intact)

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp butter

2 cups orecchiette pasta (about half a 500g pack, cooked with salt water, al dente)

Fresh basil leaves and parmesan cheese, for garnishing

Preparation

1. Heat 1 tbsp each of olive oil and butter in a pan on medium flame. Add ~4 cloves of minced garlic and saute for 30 secs.

2. Add grated zucchini & sauté it for about 5 minutes till raw smell of the veg goes away and veg is sufficiently softened.

3. Add the cream, parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup pasta water, salt, chicken stock powder, black pepper powder & oregano and bring to a simmer for 1 minute. Turn off the heat.

4. Add in spinach and basil leaves. Place an immersion blender over the sauce (or pour into a blender if it’s too shallow) and blend until it’s smooth.

5. Set heat back on medium, place the blended sauce back into pan and give it quick stir while cooking for another minute.

6. Adding boiled orecchiette pasta. Give it a quick mix and stir fry on high flame for another 1 minute and pasta is ready.

7. Add another 1 tbsp butter and olive oil into pan. Pan-fry prawns with some chopped basil, minced garlic, salt and pepper until browned on both sides. Serve in a plate and sprinkle some cheese and top with a basil leaf for garnish.

Note: the picture shows a lot more pasta being used to the sauce ratio as we had guests. But it’s meant to be ‘swimming’ in a generous puddle of sauce for a more enjoyable experience 🙂