Pasta with Chilli prawns, sweet basil and sun-dried tomatoes

I hesitated to post this pasta entry only because I cook pasta week in week out, its easy to make  so much so that I find nothing special doing pasta anymore. And when you are caught between a wall and a hard place (read: toiling away to get your day's worth) you relish any opportunity to cook a meal that can be prepared in a breeze.

Not like when I was growing up, pasta on our table means birthdays, celebrating christmas day and new year's, and usually cooking pasta is synonymous to pasta bolognese. I grew up with my Mommy cooking her famous pasta bolognese until my sister and I were old enough to prepare it for the whole family. We knew the drill and the ABC's of her bolognese. And every time I go home to my family to this day and age, I would still cook her pasta bolognese. Going home now is such a treat so I don't fail to serve it to my family.

My sister would urge me to cook any pasta dish every so often that I have concocted my own pasta dishes. She would prepare the ingredients, I cook the dishes. According to her, I cook the best pasta dishes in the whole world. Whether she is biased or not, your guess is as good as mine. :)) In hindsight, I must say the taste of my pasta dishes aren't bad at all, they are actually good.  Hence, pasta lover not a fighter  should be my name tag. Lol! If there were a dish that I cook and enjoy eating, its my pasta. A pasta dish was also one of the first dishes I cooked for my darling little boy. So please humour me, by letting me post, albeit hesitantly, one of my own pasta dishes...

Ingredients:

250 grams spaghetti pasta
250-300 grams shelled prawns

3 cloves of garlic, minced

medium-sized white onion, minced

handful of sweet basil leaves

lemon

1 1/2 teaspoon of chilli flakes (if you are not keen on chilli then ignore this ingredient)

2 tablespoons of italian herbs

2 teaspoons of  capers

1/2 teaspoon of  powdered cayenne chilli

1 tablespoon of brown sugar (or more to taste)

3 tablespoons of olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

50-75 grams of sun dried tomatoes (or more, its really up to you, I usually add more, I love sun-dried tomatoes long time :) )

a handful of shredded or thinly sliced parmesan cheese (I usually add more and more. Lol!)

I can't help it, I loooove parmesan cheese

Method:

Cook the pasta following package directions.  Drain, and keep aside,.

Heat the oil and add garlic and onion. When the veggies turned translucent, add in your prawns until   they turned slight pink, add chilli flakes and powdered cayenne, stir then add capers and sun dried tomatoes, half of the lemon, salt and pepper, sugar and italian herbs,  stir and taste if the taste is balance, let it simmer for 3 minutes (make sure that you don't over cook your prawns, prawns are cooked 4-6 minutes) stir once in a while.

Add the spaghetti to the frying pan and stir it around to reheat and coat it evenly with sauce.  Add the other half of the lemon. Season to taste with salt and  pepper  (if needed), Remove from heat then stir in  a handful of basil.  Plate your pasta, drizzle with olive oil and top it with parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

This pasta dish is as good as serving it immediately or reheating it for the following day's lunch or dinner. :)