Serves: 8
- Ingredients for the Spaghetti:
- Spaghetti – 500 grams
- Water – 10 – 12 cups
- Salt – 1 teaspoon
- Method for the Spaghetti:
- Bring water and salt to a rolling boil and drop in the spaghetti.
- Cook until al dente, drain well and rinse in cold water.
- Drizzle a couple of tablespoons of oil of your choice, toss and set aside.
- Ingredients for the Béchamel Sauce:
- Milk – 5 cups
- Bay leaves- 2
- Garlic flakes – 4, squashed
- Dried Thyme – 1 teaspoon
- Onion – 1, quartered
- Crushed black pepper – 1 teaspoon
- Method for the Béchamel Sauce:
- To a saucepan on medium heat add the milk, bay leaves, garlic flakes, thyme, the quartered onion and a teaspoon of crushed pepper.
- Allow it to come to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 10 -15 minutes stirring once in a while.
- Take the saucepan off the heat, cover and set aside to infuse for an hour.
- Strain the infused milk into a bowl and set aside.
- Ingredients for the Prawns:
- Medium-sized Prawns shelled, deveined and seasoned with salt and pepper – 500 grams (I keep the tails on since they’re so flavourful)
- Oil – ½ teaspoon
- Soft Butter – 1 teaspoon
- Garlic flakes – 10, roughly chopped
- Tarvotti chilli or Bird’s eye chilli – 1, chopped fine
- Crushed black pepper – 1full teaspoon
- Spinach leaves chopped large – 15 – 20 leaves (use only leaves, no stems)
- And the rest of the ingredients:
- Half an onion – finely chopped
- Butter – 2 tablespoons
- Oil – 1 teaspoon
- Plain flour – 1½ tablespoons
- Grated cheese – 1 – 1¼ cup
- Fresh basil leaves, roughly torn – ¼ cup
- Chopped fresh parsley – 2 teaspoons
- Red chilli flakes – 1 teaspoon (optional)
Method :
- To a saucepan on medium heat add a teaspoon of butter and half a teaspoon of oil.
- Drop in the seasoned prawns, garlic, birds eye chilli and crushed pepper. Increase heat to maximum and cook until the prawns are nearly done. Toss in the spinach leaves and immediately turn off the heat. Remove on to a plate, cover for later.
- To the same saucepan on medium heat add 2 tablespoons of butter and a teaspoon of oil followed by finely chopped onion. Fry until the onions turn translucent.
- Add in the flour and cook stirring well until the flour no longer smells raw.
- Whisk in the infused and strained milk, ensuring that it does not form lumps. Cook until the creamy sauce nearly comes to a boil.
- Stir in the grated cheese, mixing well until it melts into the sauce.
- Add the cooked spinach prawn mix and take the pan off the heat.
- Toss the cooked spaghetti into the hot creamy sauce, mixing well to coat all the spaghetti.
- Serve garnished with fresh torn basil, fresh parsley and chilli flakes.
