Prawns Aglio e Olio
Prawns Aglio e Olio
Note: This was first posted in Jun 2008, now updated with new photos and improved recipe.
I really love Aglio e Olio, and it is my go-to one-dish pasta dish whenever I am out of ideas of what to cook. While the original and authentic recipe for Aglio e Olio is plain, it is now common to see all types of variations of Aglio e Olio, just like this plate cooked with fresh prawns (or my other plate of scallops Aglio Olio). And I think why not, cooking should be improvising and flexible – adding additional ingredients definitely make the usual Aglio e Olio a more complete and interesting meal. Since I have been making Aglio e Olio so frequently at home, we seldom, if not never, order Aglio e Olio outside anymore, mainly because we can make it at a fraction of the cost at home. The money to me, is more well spent paying for fresh, large prawns and perhaps a bottle of fine white wine to go with the pasta. And there is a whole lot more flexibility when cooking this at home to adjust the taste to our own preference (for example, I love XXL prawns and extra heat).
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Cooking Aglio e Olio is definitely not difficult, requiring very basic ingredients. Check out my tips for making basic Aglio Olio here. The extra step of boiling the prawn heads and shells will add some umami-ness to the Aglio Olio, but you can skip this step and use pasta water if out of time. Thanks to reader BC for sharing his wonderful tips on Aglio e Olio making.
Ingredients
(Serves 2)- 2 servings of pasta (about 160-180g spaghetti)
- 3 tbsp good quality olive oil
- 40g butter, divided
- 10 to 12 large prawns (US name: shrimps)
- 10 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced or chopped (not too finely)
- 2 chilli padi, sliced or 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes
- 30g Italian flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
- sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Directions
1. Bring a pot of water with 1 tbsp sea salt to a boil. Cook pasta according to the timing indicated on the packet, until al dente. Drain and set aside the pasta, reserving some of the pasta water.
2. Remove the shells and veins from the prawns. Add the prawns heads and shells to a small pot with just enough water to cover them (I use about 150ml water), bring to a simmer for about 3-5 minutes to make prawn stock. Strain the stock and set aside.
3. Heat half the butter in a sauce pan. Cook the prawns on both sides and set aside.
4. Add olive oil to the sauce pan with the prawn juices and browned bits. When the oil is heated, add garlic and chilli padi/chilli flakes (if using). Saute till the garlic turns light brown.
5. Turn off the stove. The garlic will continue cooking in the hot oil on its own for a few more seconds in the hot oil, until they turn a lovely golden brown.
6. Add cooked pasta, cooked prawns, about 2 tbsp of prawn stock, chopped parsley and remaining butter (cubed) to the garlic & oil mixture. Stir to coat all the ingredients evenly. Season with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper.
Cooking Note
1. If you are not making the prawns stock (Step 2), reserve some pasta water and add it in place of the prawn stock in the last step.
Variations
- Basic Aglio e Olio Recipe
- Scallops Aglio e Olio Recipe
- Spaghetti alle Vongole Recipe
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{ 55 comments… read them below or add one }
I haven’t cooked this for a long time, pasta with prawns. Yes, it’s difficult to shoot photos when you are so hungry. It will be a case of, “Oh, forget it, just tuck in.” And worse, due to hunger, can’t get a nice shot. :o
That looks great! Shrimp and garlic pasta is one of my favorites.
This is a great dish to make when the organic garlic farmer who lives not too far from here brings his garlic to the farmers’ market. He grows more than a dozen varieties, some spicy, some mild, and all would be great in this recipe.
Great choice! I love the trilogy – olive oil, garlic and shrimp.
Yummy! Aglio Olio for me if I want a change from tomato-based pasta!
Looks good. I love the combination of garlic and olive oil. I probably wouldn’t put cheese on this, but perhaps that’s just me. :)
I made this dish with chopped scallops last night. One of the easiest and most satisfying. Can’t miss. For me, the secret is a slow, super-low flame to keep the garlic light and the seafood from turning rubbery. Glad you at least got one shot in, Wiffy. Your photos are too pretty to miss.
omg! my fav pasta!
i luv aglio olio…especially if the chilli has xtra kick ~drool~
it’ll be better if u could put in the preparation and cooking time. :D
Mmmm anything with prawns is a winner in my books!
Wiffy, it looks soooo delicious! :D
Thank you for stopping by and for all your comments, I read them all, just I’m not getting enough time to reply on time
Still jealous of your emoticons… did not get a chance to seat down and draw my owns… but soon :P
I had tried out your recipe by doubling up the amount. The combination is nice but just that it is a bit dry. Looks like the sauce is not enough to coat the pasta. Anything that I should take note?
Hi lk!
For the spaghetti, if u cooked it before hand and set aside for a while, they may become dry. Use pasta water to reconstitute the spaghetti when tossing them into the pan. btw, u have a nice blog ;)
I used 3 tbsp olive oil and the cooked 200g pasta seems too huge to fit into 2 person’s stomach. Will try ur suggestion next time.
Tks for dropping by at my blog.
I like ur pancake with fruit too! Pancake is my son’s favourite esp banana pancake. :-)
hi ! anyone know how come my chopped garlic all become burnt, black after i stir fry with olive oil? and my saucepan also got burnt at the bottom….haiz…
Susan: I’m glad to hear that you tried and like it :)
Christine: I think you have over-heated the oil, at the point the garlic is added. Like what Susan said above, the secret is a slow, low flame to prevent burning. You should hear the garlic sizzling gently in the oil if the temperature is right (on the other hand, if there is no reaction, then the temperature is too low). Hope this helps.
I tried cooking this dish, but find that the pasta still taste a bit bland. How do I improve?
Did you season with salt? Start small (just a pinch) and adjust according to taste. You can double the herbs used especially if they are fresh and not those bottled type, hope this helps.
I did add salt when I was boiling the pasta. Do I still need to add when frying the pasta with other ingredients? Will using more olive oil help too? Thanks for advising.
Yes, if the dish turns out bland, you definitely need to season to taste with salt :)
Now it tastes better. I’ve also put more oil and parsley flakes! Thanks a lot. :)
woah… that aglio olio looks great! bring on the chili flakes and cheese. :D
Hmm… Where can i find chilli flakes? Cant find it in NTUC..
Hi supernoob, you can buy bottled chilli flakes in NTUC or Cold Storage. A common brand is masterfoods. It’s where all the bottled herbs and spices are kept. Hope you find it.
Hi, I tried this recipe yesteday and I added red peppers and tomatoes to add colour. It turned out fantastic, definitely and amazing recipe!
Thanks ranna, glad to hear you like it! I like the addition of red peppers and tomatoes, sounds colourful and delish!
Hi… i am a noob here… but does anyone know which brand of spaghetti will taste better after cooking?
hi ps, I personally find that most brands is fine and I’m not fussy about it. I personally use the San Remo brand a lot. Just make sure you follow the cooking time written on the package and not over-cook the pasta.
Great post. I would like to share some other tips which I picked up from watching an Italian chef in his kitchen.
I’m not sure if anyone has commented on this but adding oil to the water for boiling the pasta is generally not advised, and also not what the Italians do. It may not be as crucial here since you aren’t dealing with a sauce, but it tends to prevent the pasta from absorbing the flavours of the sauce. And if you are adding oil to prevent the pasta from sticking to each other, you simply have to stir the pasta a bit in the beginning. Also, you can also consider putting enough salt into the boiling water such that it tastes almost like sea water – you don’t have to salt the pasta after this, and is again what the Italians do.
The other thing is I found out that restaurants don’t have the garlic sliced very thinly (emincé) instead of diced simply because it looks better. It actually tastes better because your garlic is more uniformly cooked and the texture works better overall, but I suppose some people prefer their garlic to taste a bit more raw. I personally don’t prefer having the garlic taste raw as I like the garlic to have a bit of sweetness.
Finally, when I do an aglio olio with prawns, I tend to saute the prawns separately because if you do it with the garlic, you risk burning the garlic or having it become slightly bitter (again, a matter of preference). As aglio olio is such a simple dish, I think you need to really nail the few ingredients in it!
One other tip is to add some of the water used to boil the pasta into the pan along with the pasta. The starch in the pasta water helps to give a somewhat creamy or smooth texture to the pasta, and helps get you nearer to the type you get in Italian restaurants. I take the pasta out of the pan only after the pasta water has evaporated – don’t worry about the pasta being overcooked and no longer al dente. If you are really a food nazi, you may even wanna boil the prawn heads in some water to get a seafood broth to add in with the pasta water – this gives your pasta that extra somethin’ somethin’ – this is what many Italian restaurants actually do; they add in seafood stock to give it that umami-ness you never get with home-cooked pasta.
The final tip is to add a knob of butter for maybe a minute or two before you take the pasta out of the pan. Do remember to adjust the amount of olive oil and salt (if you use salted butter) if you decide to do this, as you don’t want your pasta to be too oily or too salty. I got this tip from the restaurant I used to work at. I’m not sure if this is what the Italians do though.
Hope this helps!
Hi BC – wow, really love the tips! thanks so much for your detailed explanation and sharing, I’ve read it all and really appreciate it. shall attempt my aglio oilo with prawns again :)
Hey Wiffy!
Thanks for this recipe. Made this with Linguine last night for my son. I made it without the prawns and it was still mega yummy….definitely one more to add to my list.
Also I added a teeny tiny bit of a chicken stock while cooking the garlic just for extra flavour. (A trick I learnt from the Jamie Oliver recipes…)
Guess what I am having for lunch today..have lots of pasta and some shrimp in the freezer. Muchas Gracias!
Another lovely pasta dish!
This pasta looks delicious, so tasty with the shrimp stock (great usage of the shells). Beautiful pictures!
Hope you are having a wonderful week :-)
Thank you for the detailed steps. Good idea for tonight dinner :)
One of my favorites; it looks so delicious!
I see a claypot in the photos! Gonna try your claypot chicken rice soon…wish me luck!
This can be arranged in 1000 ways!
Great recipe, I shall try it one of these days ^_-
Gosh! This looks so good, especially with the prawns! I love the way you captured your food too!
Simple dish but loved by all..thanks for the tips ! Love your blog too!
Hi Wiffy
This is an interesting recipe which I would like to try. What is the good brand of Good Quality Olive Oil which you are using? Where to get it? The price of Olive Oil ranges a great lot and I am at a lost of which one to buy. Thanks!
Felicia
I buy the good ones when I am on vacation, good and cheap. Locally, I am not fussy – usually buy Borges when the 2 litres bottle is on sale.
Hi Wiffy,
Heehee I am so going to try out your recipe! =) Can I know which grade of olive oil do you use? I see extra virgin, virgin and light olive oil in the supermarts but am just unsure which is right for pasta/stir frying.
Appreciate your enlightenment. hehe
Hi Ash, I use virgin olive oil for cooking esp pan or stir frying and extra virgin for salads or baking. Don’t bother with light olive oil (personal opinion), it’s just a less pure olive oil (!). HTHs :)
Hello! I made this dish according to the above recipe and it turned out great! Never knew I could make this favourite dish of mine at home too :) Thank you for the recipe!
Hi Wiffy
This is a great recipe. It is simple enough for me to try it out and the taste is very delicious. My family enjoys it very much and we have decided not to order this dish from outside anymore ;o). Thanks for sharing!
Felicia
Another answer to my burning question: Why cant my aglios taste like the one in Pastamania????
Answer from Noobcook: Butter!!!!
Who would have thought. lol Thanks Wiffy. :)
Hi Shariffa,
Wiffy’s recipe tastes much better than Pasta Mania. The good thing about her recipe is we are able to adjust the amount of oil. Hope you will have a great time trying it out ;o).
Felicia
Couldn’t agree more Felicia! Just that all these while i have cooking prawn aglio by frying garlic, toss in the prawns till cook and the pasta. Taste bahhhh. Thumbs down. I was too smart to look for recipe thinking it’s very simple to do. lol
Thanks Felicia, glad your family likes it. Try it with scallops and/or mussels for a delightful seafood version. Shariffa, thanks! hope you enjoy the recipe too :)
Just want to let you know that I tried your recipe. It’s really nice! Best pasta I have cooked so far. My wife liked it a lot, though I got chided for being lazy to chop the garlic to finer pieces …LOL
Thanks for sharing wizzy! Next up will be the one with clams!
Thanks for the feedback, glad your wife liked it :)
This seems delicious! I am definitely going to try this recipe! and the prawn stock is brilliant cause I’ve seen it on masterchef and that’s how they make the prawn stock! yums Thanks for sharing :)
Maybe a stupid question to ask, after u turn off the stove to let the garlic continue cooking, when do u turn it on again and add all the other ingredient and pasta?
Hi Alice, I do not turn back the stove again. Once the garlic reached desired golden brown colour, toss the rest of the ingredients in to serve immediately.