I love summery food – light pasta, fresh seafood, crunchy vegetables. So when I was set the task to create a dish of my choice, I ended up combining all three to make Garlic Prawns with Courgette Vermicelli.
The aim of my culinary challenge was to show what delights I could create from the By Sainsbury’s range of own-brand food. I’d bought some of their products in the past, but hadn’t really realised just what a huge selection there was – from baking goods and condiments, to fruit and veg, and pasta.
I’m an OK cook, but my biggest hurdle is time. Anything I make has to be simple, tasty and quick, and reasonably priced. Armed with a shopping basket and a few vague ideas I began to roam the aisles, and slowly a plan took shape.
I started with some olive oil and some dried vermicelli pasta, then headed to the freezer section to pick up some cooked, frozen prawns. Next I added a white onion, some garlic, and a three-pack of courgettes to my basket. On my way back to the checkout I swung past the fruit section and grabbed some strawberries, raspberries and kiwifruit.
Once home, I defrosted the prawns and diced the onion. I crushed four cloves of garlic into the oil to release the flavour, then allowed the prawns and onion to marinade for a couple of hours. About 30 minutes before dinner time I grated the three courgettes, and boiled a pot of salted water. As the pasta went into the boiling water for a couple of minutes, I quickly heated the prawns, onion and garlic mix in a frying pan. Then I threw in the drained pasta and the courgettes, and mixed them all together.
A shake of cracked black pepper, and my dish was done! It was so simple, and took maybe 25 minutes from start to finish. It was healthy, tasted amazing, and cost just £6.03. Don’t believe me? Here’s the breakdown:
3 x courgettes: 90p1 x onion: 18p, vermicelli pasta: 95p, frozen cooked prawns: £2.50 (on special), ground black pepper: £1.50
• if you want some simple fish recipes, why not try Coley with Leeks and Broccoli Potato Cakes, or Pan-Fried Haddock with French Beans & Almonds.
Yummy, was wondering what to cook fir hubby and i tonight as son has a friend over and they ard ordering in pizza which wd dont enjoy. Might open a bottle of rioja too!
You really should try it Jan – it’s so simple but seriously delicious! If you love garlic (which I do!) marinate the prawns for as long as possible. x
Interesting! Pricing a bit silly in that it might have cost you that but you should have a fair bit left, especially black pepper and probably kiwis too. Our trouble is my wife is a coeliac as well as a veggie (prawns are ok) so I’ll probably have to swap the vermicelli for some gluten-free pasta. Worth a go anyway.
Hey Tony, yes to the cracked pepper, no to the kiwifruit – we scoffed the whole lot! 😉
My young niece has just been diagnosed and coeliac and diabetic – makes dinner times a bit more challenging, doesn’t it? There seems to be a much wider range of gluten-free foods now, compared to a few years ago, which I hope makes it a little bit easier.
You’ll have to come back and let me know if you try it – I reckon it would translate well into any type of pasta! 🙂
Oh wow looks ah-mazing hun and love the way you’ve arranged the fruit, so tempting-shots are brilliant! Thanks for linking up to #tastytuesdays x
This looks like a fab dish, you can’t beat prawns in the summer 🙂 And those fruits would just end the meal off brilliantly!
#TastyTuesdays