Simple food...

I modified this dish from the Giallo Zafferano site: https://ricette.giallozafferano.it/Pasta-gamberi-e-guanciale.html

It’s like having your cake and eat it too: You make pasta all’amatriciana but you also add prawns and burrata / stracciatella cheese.
I added prawn stock which makes the sauce even yummier.

I made this tonight without the prawn stock but went overboard with the stracciatella cheese, that’s why the photo looks a bit “snowed in”.

But the result? I couldn’t stop eating it! The sauce was soooooooooooo good!

Try it!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

✓ Pasta 400 g (I find Paccheri too big and prefer rigatoni)
✓ Prawns 12 de-shelled and de-veined
✓ Prawn stock 60 ml
✓ Guanciale 150 g
✓ Burrata / Stracciatella 300 g
✓ Peeled Tomatoes 850 g
✓ Garlic 6 cloves, crushed or finely chopped
✓ Anchovies 8 pieces
✓ Extra virgin olive oil, only if necessary
✓ Salt to taste
✓ Chilli flakes to taste
✓ Black pepper to taste

Pre-prep Prawn stock:

1. Remove heads and shell from the prawns and devein. Keep the heads and shell.
2. Put the heads and shell in a pot and add enough water to cover them.
3. Cook in low heat for 30-45 minutes, until the water level is reduced to below the shells.
4. Turn off heat and set aside.

Instructions:

1. First cut the guanciale into thin strips, then move on to cleaning the prawns as per instructions above.
2. Put a pot of salted boiling water on the stove to cook the pasta.
3. Season the burrata with oil, salt and pepper.
4. Heat a large pan and brown the guanciale for a few minutes over medium heat. There’s no need to use any oil because the fat from the guanciale will melt and produce enough oil to cook the whole dish.
5. Remember to move and shake the pan often to move the guanciale around. This allows you to cook the guanciale perfectly.
6. When the guanciale is golden and crisp, remove it from the pan and set aside.
7. In the same pan, add the prawns and brown them briefly on one side over medium heat (about 30-45 seconds). Turn over to brown the other side.
8. Remove the prawns from the pan and set aside.
9. In the meantime, cook the pasta for 2 minutes less than the time indicated on the package.
10. Still in the same pan, add the garlic, briefly brown them and then pour in the peeled tomatoes, prawn stock, chilli flakes and anchovies. The anchovies will melt to nothing but will provide the saltiness for the dish. If you don’t want to use anchovies, use salt.
11. Cook over low heat for a few minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden ladle so that the flavour of the cooking juices blends with that of the sauce.
12. Add a ladle of pasta water to the sauce.
13. When cooked, add the prawns and bacon and turn off the heat.
14. When the pasta is ready, drain the pasta and add to the sauce.
15. Turn the heat on again and toss the pasta with the sauce for the remaining 2 minutes, then turn off and season with a drizzle of oil and a grind of pepper.
16. Finally, complete the dish by breaking up the cheese and add to the pan. Your prawn and guanciale pasta is ready to be served!