Feed Four for £5 - Spaghetti with Prawns

This a quick, satisfying and incredibly cheap dinner for four that is packed full of flavour and can be thrown together in less than half an hour and you will find the majority of the ingredients in your stock cupboard at all times – you’ll just need to pick up the prawns.

I’ve worked out this meal costs roughly £1.11 per person – in my home, it makes a decent sized dinner for two and then two lunchbox fillers that will be much more welcome than a sandwich. 

Bulk it up with some fresh salad or some garlic bread. I make my own garlic bread by rubbing slices of a fresh loaf or French stick with fresh garlic on both side adding a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to each and then adding to a hot griddle pan for a couple of minutes on each side, till nicely charred.

This makes the perfect mid-week meal – especially towards the end of the month when purses might be lean but appetites are still demanding. This is the first post for the Feed Four for £5 series of posts. If you have any recipes that Feed Four for £5 please do Tweet them to me @Bistro_Becs and use the hashtag #feed4for5er

Here’s how:

500g packet of dried spaghetti

200g fresh, raw prawns

Half a tin of chopped tomatoes

2 cloves of garlic

1 tbsp dried chilli flakes

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley or 2bsp dried

Pinch of salt and black pepper

Firstly add the olive oil to a pan and place on a low heat. Slice the garlic finely and add to the pan to soften with the chilli flakes. This will create a pan full of flavour before adding anything else to it.

Get your pasta cooking with a generous pinch of salt according to the packet and in the meantime chop up your parsley ready to scatter through the pasta. I have some growing on my windowsill, but dried is fine for this dish too as buying fresh herbs on a regular basis can prove to be quite costly at £1 for only 100g that will go off fairly quickly.

Add the tomatoes to the pan and stir through with a wooden spoon. Add some seasoning to your taste and when the pasta only has a few minutes remaining, throw the prawns into the sauce, ensuring each is close to the pan so they cook through evenly. Prawns only take 2-3 minutes to cook and they are very easy to judge as once they become pink they are ready.

Before draining the cooked pasta add 2 tbsp of the cooking water to the prawns and again, stir through. Once the pasta is drained add to the pan with the prawns and the sauce and stir through gently to ensure all the pasta is coated nicely.

Finally stir through most of the parsley and then serve adding a touch more parsley over the top for a pretty garnish and enjoy!