Orecchiette with wilted cherry tomatoes prawns and courgettes

This year, as we pine away at home through this long lockdown, the concept of liberation has an even stronger meaning. Let’s try making the wait easier with a lovely 100% Italian recipe: our Sgambaro Yellow Label Apulian orecchiette made with 100% Italian Marco Aurelio durum wheat, grown in central-northern Italy, with sweet Sicilian cherry tomatoes, Ligurian basil, king prawns from our sea and courgettes from the Po Valley.

Ingredients for two people

Sgambaro Yellow Label Orecchiette

300 g mixed cherry tomatoes

6/8 king prawns

2 small courgettes

A sprig of basil

Half a small onion

One carrot

One celery stalk

2 cloves of garlic

Herbs to taste

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Method

First of all, clean the prawns and set aside the heads. Toss them with a drizzle of oil and as soon as they lighten, place them in a bowl covered with cling film, so that they finish cooking in their own steam.

Halve the cherry tomatoes and wilt them in the oven at about 140°C for an hour or so after dusting them with your favourite chopped herbs and drizzling them with oil. Once wilted, blend half of them and set the other half aside.

Prepare the prawn bisque: pour two drizzles of oil in a pan, 2 cloves of unpeeled garlic, half an onion, a carrot and a stalk of celery cut into pieces, pepper, bay leaf, parsley and other seasonings to taste, place the prawn heads on it as well and sautée everything at high heat; then add about half a litre of water and two tablespoons of your cherry tomato sauce and allow to thicken for half an hour, then sieve.

Cut the green part of the courgettes and dice into small cubes, which you may use raw or toss in warm oil for ten minutes or so. You can use the white part to make a cream, by stewing it in a pan for ten minutes or so then blending it with a sprig of fresh basil leaves.

Bring the water to the boil, add salt and plunge the orecchiette. When al dente, drain them and toss them with your bisque, the cherry tomato sauce, some of the wilted tomatoes, the cooked prawns and the diced courgettes.

Use the courgette cream and the remaining cherry tomatoes to plate.

And enjoy your meal!